Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The White County Warriorettes captured the District 7/AAA Championship on Thursday with their 4-0 win over Upperman.
A low-scoring game from the start, Sparta got on the board early with an Ashlynn Phillips sacrifice fly to plate Caydra Parker in the first.
The same play happened just two innings later in the third, as White County took a 2-0 lead over the Lady Bees. All the while, Addison Abell went to work on the mound, throwing scoreless inning after scoreless inning to keep White County in the lead.
The final blow was dealt in the fourth inning, when Lordis Northern dropped a two-run triple into the right-field corner to plate the final two runs and push the lead to it’s final margin of 4-0.
Abell finished with seven shutout, one-hit innings and six strikeouts.
“Since the fall, we’ve been in the gym every day,” said WCHS head coach Jerry Roberts. “I’m really proud of my girls, they’ve worked really hard…they gave a lot of dedication. These four seniors that have really put a lot of time in, they’ve been special all four years.”
Northern doesn’t get quite the same attention the other seniors get for White County, but when the team needed a big hit in a big game, the left-fielder came through and helped deliver a district championship for the Warriorettes.
“Lordis has been one of those players that we’ve been pushing to help us,” Roberts said. “She’s a good outfielder, and she came through at really good time for us.”
The focus will now shift to the region tournament, which means a home date with Marshall County on Tuesday (Time TBD). Roberts says he’ll let his girls enjoy this one, but soon, it’ll be time to shift the focus back to the field.
“We want to get focused on that,” Roberts said. “Marshall County will come here, and it’s another home game for us. It’s special to play on this field and have home-field advantage. Not having to drive two and a half hours, that’s pretty important.”
