FAYETTEVILLE — A four-run fifth inning placed the Macon County High School softball squad in control, and the Tigerettes held on for a 6-4 victory at Lincoln County on Monday evening in a Region 4-3A Tournament semifinal contest.
Winners of the region semifinal games moved on to Wednesday’s regional championship game and also earned a spot in one of eight Class 3A sectional contests to be played on Friday. Sectional winners qualify for next week’s Class 3A State Tournament, which will be played at Murfreesboro’s McKnight Park.
The Tigerettes were slated to travel to Franklin on Wednesday to face Page for the 4-3A title. Page kept its season alive with Monday’s 3-1, road victory over District 7-3A Tournament champion Upperman.
Macon County has never reached the state tournament.
The Tigerettes last reached the sectional round in 2017 thanks to a 5-4 win at Chattanooga Christian in its region opener before suffering a 15-2 loss to DeKalb County in the regional championship game and then dropping a 1-0 contest at Chattanooga Central in the sectional round. Chattanooga Central went on to place fourth in Class AA, winning two of its four games in the state tournament.
Macon County also reached the sectional round in 2015, suffering a 10-0 loss at Chattanooga Central in a sectional that season.
Lincoln County, which was the District 8-3A champion, ended its season with Monday’s loss. The Lady Falcons reached the state tournament a year ago, placing fourth in Class 3A.
The Tigerettes took a quick lead on Monday as senior Macy Meador led off the game with a single and scored on junior Gianna Holden’s two-out double.
Lincoln County took its first lead when junior Mia Brown hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third.
However, Macon County quickly responded as Holden led off the fourth inning with a double to leftfield, and she scored when Kenley Roark doubled to leftfield.
Shockley was hit by the third pitch of the fifth inning, sparking the four-run outburst.
Shockley moved to second base on a wild pitch and advanced to third base when Meador singled. Both Shockley and Meador scored on Ellie Coley’s single to rightfield.
Two outs later, Roark kept the inning alive with a double to leftfield, and Ryleigh Coley doubled in Roark and Ellie Coley, extending the lead to 6-2.
The Lady Falcons responded by scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pull back to within two runs, but Ellie Coley worked a scoreless seventh inning to keep the Tigerettes’ season alive.
Ellie Coley had a complete-game effort in the pitcher’s cirlce, allowing four earned runs on nine hits. She issued four base on balls and struck out two hitters.
Roark finished with three hits, including two doubles, and both Holden and Meador produced two hits.
Macon County improved to 17-12.
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