The Newton County Lady Rams won 11 to 4 over Stephenson High School of DeKalb County Thursday evening at home. The win improved the Lady Rams record to 10-3 overall and to 2-1 in region play on the season.

The Lady Rams offense stuttered early in the game as the Rams could only put two runners on base in the first two innings, one in the first on an error and one in the second on a double by catcher Zan Usher that hit the centerfield fence. 

“Our timing was definitely off early,” said coach Virginia Waters. “We decided to change things up and take advantage of some of their weaknesses.”

That’s exactly what the Lady Rams did as they broke the game open in the third inning, scoring six runs while batting through the lineup. Keyanna Notae would start the scoring off with a base clearing double reaching third on an error from Stephenson that would also score a run. Lady Rams Kelsey Swinson, Marie Diaz and Makala Williams would also contribute in the third each with an RBI.  

Newton would score three more runs in the fourth inning on three hits and a host of errors by the Jaguars before finishing Stephenson High off early in the sixth inning on a run rule by adding two more runs.

Defensively, the Lady Rams seamed sluggish at first allowing Stephenson to score first in the game with a run each in the first and third innings of the game. The lady Rams would soon settle in behind their pitcher Letice Albert, who had seven strikeouts and only allowed one walk in the game. 

“I cannot say enough about Letice allowing us to stay in ballgames and allowing our defense to work for us,” Waters said. 

Usher also had a good defensive game behind the plate coming up with some key blocks to hold the Stephenson base runners in check and also throwing two out on attempted steals.

Coach Waters described the win as “disappointing.” 

“We were fundamentally lazy today and we played down to their team, which is something we have discussed and never want to do," Waters said.

The Lady Rams will continue their push for the playoffs and preseason goals they set this year, as they try to learn from mistakes and keep winning games with this year’s season winding down.