RALEIGH – The Lawrence County Lady Cougars overwhelmed the Raleigh Lady Lions 13-0 in a Thursday night slow-pitch softball catfight. While LCHS’ batters were piling up hits and runs, Lady Cougar pitcher Barri Rogers and her defense were fashioning a rare slow-pitch perfect game. Raleigh failed to get a single base runner in the four-inning contest.

“We had a good night,” said Lady Cougar coach Meleah Howard. “This a team that we had tough battles with early in the season, so we were expecting another one tonight. But we came out hitting, and we defended well. A perfect game is pretty rare in slow-pitch softball.”

In a four-inning jamboree scrimmage on the first weekend of the season, the Lady Cougars edged Raleigh 1-0. A week later, in a tournament game at Puckett, LCHS scored two in the seventh to eek out a 3-1 win over the Lady Lions. Thursday’s game was different.

A dropped fly ball opened the flood gates and triggered Lawrence County’s four-run first inning. Maddux Kirkland had an RBI double in the inning. Josey Nations and Zyon Feazell also had hits. The Lady Cougars added one run in the second, as Abbie Errington, Callie Fortenberry, and Nations all had singles.

In a big five-run third inning, Nations, Feazell, Fortenberry, Sydney Pevey, Jordan Harp, and Amanda Rushing each had hits. LCHS added three more in the fourth, ending the game via the 12-run rule. Rogers and Errington had hits.

Raleigh, meanwhile, had no offensive success. No Lady Lion batter came close to making it safely to base. Eight Lady Lions were retired via pop-ups or fly balls, and four were retired on grounders. Rogers’ perfect game was threatened when she went to a 3-0 count on the final Raleigh batter. She battle back to a 3-2 count, however, and the hitter was retired on a fly ball to right center.

The Lady Cougars improved to 18-1 on the season. LCHS will host its own tournament Saturday. The first game is at 9 a.m., with Lawrence County hosting West Lincoln. There will be games featuring area teams all day, with the final game slated for 6 p.m.