B

RUTLEDGE – Emma Myatt had 11 strikeouts and drove in three runs to help power the Claiborne Lady Bulldogs to a 10-3 road win over Grainger Tuesday night at The Den.

Maddie Lynch drove in three runs for Claiborne and Kate Combs had a pair of RBIs for the visitors. Maddie Lynch had a homerun for the visitors. Brooklyn Copley had two homers for the Lady Grizzlies but that was about all the offense could muster against Myatt.

After Claiborne jumped on top first with a double by Myatt that scored Hannah Fugate, they added three more runs in the top of the second when Combs had a two-run double and Myatt scored on a sacrifice fly by Fugate to make it a 4-0 game. Lynch scored on another sac fly, this time by Alley Jones. Grainger got on the board in the third when Copley went yard to make the score 5-1. Lynch’s three-run bomb put Claiborne up again comfortably at 8-1 and after Copley hit her second bomb of the night, this time a two-run blast, the Lady Bulldogs added a pair of runs in the sixth when Myatt connected on a two-run double that turned out to be the final tally.

Claiborne head coach Carabeth Myatt was impressed with her pitchers’ performance. “This was a good night on the mound for us as she came out and pitched well so it turned out to be a great win for us. We have been practicing our base running and were able to take advantage of that, especially since we haven’t been hitting well. Once we have baserunners on, we have to take advantage of that. We needed a district win since we have had a rough couple of games in the district so this was a good boost for our girls.”

Grainger’s defense was a problem throughout the contest as the Lady Grizzlies committed six errors, something head coach Ben Williford said was too much to overcome. “That’s been our story all year as errors just eat us alive. We have to clean that up or it’s going to be a long season. We are just not a fundamentally sound team. We have to hit better and be confident at the plate. When we get runners on base in front of Copley, good things are going to happen. Get people on base and we are going to score runs because she is that good.”