Lady Bears mark Senior Night with win

Published 11:15 pm Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Eight Lady Bears recorded hits as Harlan County celebrated Senior Night with a 9-2 win Wednesday over visiting Letcher Central.

Hannah Johnson, a sophomore third baseman, led a 12-hit attack for the Lady Bears with three singles in four at bats. Destinee Jenkins and Emily Long each added two singles. Kacie Russell had a double. Nikki Creech, Lainey Cox, Emily Collett and T.C. Somersall each contributed one hit.

Jenkins and Russell teamed on a two-hitter with Jenkins striking out five and walking two in five-plus innings to earn the win. Russell pitched two perfect innings with a strikeout.

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Harlan County took 1-0 lead in the third inning as Jenkins singled and courtesy runner Destiny Clark came home on Russell’s double to center.

Letcher scored twice in the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit. Abigail McDougal was hit by a pitch and Makaya Whitt walked. Megan Combs drove in a run with a ground out, and the Lady Cougars took the lead on a double steal.

The Lady Cougars’ defense disintegrated in the bottom of the fourth as four errors led to six runs. Johnson, Long and Cox had successive two-out hits after the errors with Cox driving in the final two runs of the inning.

Creech singled in the fifth inning and scored on Jenkins’ hit for an 8-2 lead.

Johnson singled in the sixth inning and scored the final run on Collett’s two-out hit.

The 10-6 Lady Bears return to action Friday and Saturday in the Mountain Softball Leader Classic at Hazard.

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Letcher Central 000 200 0 — 2 2 6

Harlan County 001 611 x — 9 12 2

Anderson, Meade (5) and McDougal; Jenkins, Russell (6) and Long. WP — Jenkins (10-6). LP — Anderson.

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Brianda Owens dominated on the mound and Emma Hurd supplied the power as Clay County coasted to an 8-0 win on Tuesday at Harlan County.

Owens pitched a four-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks as she never allowed more than HCHS base runner at a time.

Hurd, the leadoff hitter for the 15-0 Lady Tigers, had a home run and single. Maddie Frazier added a double and two singles. Owens had a double and Jordan Boley contributed a single.

Nikki Creech, Kacie Russell, Hannah Johnson and Regan Caudill each had singles for the Lady Bears.

Clay County batted around in the first inning and scored three runs despite having only one hit as the Lady Tigers capitalized on four errors. Frazier and Owens each had RBI doubles in a four-run fourth inning.

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Clay County 300 401 0 — 8 7 2

Harlan County 000 000 0 — 0 4 6

Owens and Smith, Jenkins, K. Creech (6) and Long. WP — Owens. LP — Jenkins (8-5).