By Mitch Howard
Sports Writer
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. —
North Laurel wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the 49th District Tournament with wins over Jackson County and Clay County Monday. The Lady Jaguars routed Jackson County 15-0 before pulling away late for a 6-0 win over Clay County.
Clay County held North Laurel scoreless until the fourth inning when Emily Sears broke the shutout with a two-run single. The Lady Jaguars added two more runs to the lead in the fifth inning on a two-run single by Megan Baldwin.
Clay County threatened in the sixth inning, but two diving stops by shortstop Sidney Herrell kept the Lady Tigers scoreless.
Singles by Herrell and eighth grader McKenzie Mills drove in the final two runs in the sixth inning.
The Lady Jaguars (8-1) also played three games over the weekend in the Early Spring Break Classic. North Laurel beat Tates Creek 12-6 before falling to Collins 5-3. The loss to Collins was their first of the season. The Lady Jaguars came back with a 5-2 win over Dixie Heights.
North Laurel needed to rally for the 12-6 win over Tates Creek. Tates Creek jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning, but never pushed another run across.. North Laurel got three hits and three runs from Herrell in the comeback. Baldwin, Vires, and Kailin Yantz had two hits each.
The only at-bat that Herrell did not reach base was in the fourth inning when her sacrifice fly drove in Yantz with the tying run. Vanessa Smith followed with a walk and scored the go-ahead run.
North Laurel stroked nine hits, but managed only three runs in the loss to Collins. Kirsten Fields and Yantz each had a pair of hits
Collins scored an unearned run in the first inning. Becca Mouser led off the second inning with a home run for a 2-0 lead. North Laurel did get one run back in the bottom of the second. Blake Johnson led off with a double and scored on a single by Yantz.
Collins scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning with North Laurel again responding. Fields led off the sixth with a single and scored on a double by Baldwin. Strong’s single scored Baldwin to make it a 4-3 game.
Collins added an insurance run in the seventh. North Laurel had the tying runs on base but could not get them home.
North Laurel jumped on Dixie Heights early with three runs in the first inning with the help of a couple of errors. Blake Johnson had an RBI single in the inning. That would be all of the scoring for North Laurel until the fourth inning. Mikayla Vires was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by Herrell.
Dixie Heights was able to push a pair of runs across in the fifth inning. The final North Laurel run came on an RBI single by Emily Sears in the fifth inning.
North Laurel will host South Laurel Thursday before heading to Fort Walton Beach, FL for Spring Break.
mhoward@sentinel-echo.com
