BOGUE CHITTO – The Lawrence County Lady Cougars survived an eight inning marathon to spoil Senior Night for the Bogue Chitto Lady Cats with a 5-4 win in softball action Tuesday night.

“Great game between two tough teams,” said Lawrence County assistant coach Marc Howard. “Elizabeth Smith pitched a great game for us. The girls did a good job stepping up to grab the win.”

The Bogue Chitto faculty recognized their softball seniors: Jordan McKinney, Alexis Givens, Marshonikique Blackwell and Mattie Avants with their families, prior to the first pitch against Lawrence County.

The Lady Cougars (19-3, 6-2) will be in action Thursday as they prepare to start their Class 4A state playoff run on the road against the Quitman Panthers. Game time begins at 5:30. Game Two and Three (if needed) will return to Monticello starting at 5 p.m..

The Lady Cats (19-6. 6-0) has an opening round bye before starting their playoff march. BC will play a couple of warm up matches this Saturday in Florence against they take on the Florence Lady Eagles at 11 a.m. and battle the Pearl River Central Lady Blue Devils at 1 p.m.

Lawrence Co. 5, Bogue Chitto 4 

The Lady Cougars and Lady Bobcats provided an exciting softball contest for the fans as both teams showed off their defensive skills.

In the opening inning, the Lady Cougars quickly set the tone of the contest and grabbed a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first inning, BC answered the challenge and tie the game at 1-all.

After a see-saw defensive battle, Lawrence County managed to break up the tied game in the top of the fifth inning by pushing across one run to take a 2-1 lead and managed to increase their to 3-1 in the top of the seventh inning.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lady Cats refused to give up easily and rallied back to tied the game at 3-all. With runners on second and third base with two outs, BC were on the verge of sneaking out a win, but the Lady Cougars’ defense stop the rally to force extra innings.

In the top of the eight inning, the Lady Cougars work hard to answered BC’s challenge after giving up two quick outs by pushing across two more runs before the Lady Cats secured the last out.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, BC’s tried to put together another miracle run as they started the inning with a bang as Colby Kirkland ripped a triple to score a runner from second base to trimmed the lead down to 5-4.

Bogue Chitto managed to load the bases with no outs and threaten to capture the win but the Lawrence County’s defense stepped up and denied the Lady Cats the victory with three straight huge outs to escape with the win.

Elizabeth Smith was the winning pitcher for the Lady Cougars with 11 strikeouts and six walks.

Alana Nettles suffered the setback for the Lady Cats with eight strikeouts and three walks.

Jazmin Thomas was the offensive leader at the plate for Lawrence County with a double and a single. Alyssa Pendergrass, Elizabeth Smith and Callie Fortenberry contributed a pair of singles. Jamie Martin and Cheyenne Long had a double each. Alexsundria Thomas hit safely.

Terrah Nelson was the top hitter for the Lady Cats with a double and a single. Mattie Avants and Zariah Matthews provided two singles apiece. Colby Kirkland had a triple.

“Great game by both teams,” said Scott Leggett. “This was a good tune up for the playoffs. Lawrence County had some big hits and we did too. The girls did a great job fighting back in the seventh and eighth innings. We had great chance to win the contest. Overall, I was pleased with the girls effort.”

In junior varsity action,  Lawrence County prevailed 5-3 over Bogue Chitto.

Josey Nations led the Lady Cougars at the plate with a double. Hitting safely were Karlie Bass, Maddox Kirkland and Lakyn Trott.

Baleigh Jackson recorded the only hit on offense for the Lady Cats with a single.