COVINGTON, Ga. — The latest chapter of the Newton softball team’s storybook campaign was one to remember.
Hosting Region 4-AAAAAAA adversary Parkview on their home diamond Wednesday, the Lady Rams jumped out to an early lead only to have it erased. They then had to claw their way back late just to force extra innings.
But in the 10th inning, when all hope looked lost after surrendering three runs, they stormed back with four runs of their own to pull off the upset, 8-7.
Newton’s day started off with a bang.
After six pitches resulted in two outs, the Lady Rams kept the home half of the first inning alive as senior Ty’Liah Hardeman and sophomore Kyla Stroud drew back-to-back walks. The patience at the plate paid off as senior Kaitlyn Neely and freshman Aaliyah Wilcox came through with run-scoring singles to make it 3-0.
The Lady Panthers trimmed their deficit with an RBI single in the second inning before tacking on three more runs in the fourth to slide in front, 4-3.
With one out and two on in the seventh inning, Neely stepped to the plate for the Lady Rams. She grounded into a fielder’s choice, but simply putting the ball in the play proved to be a victory in itself as it allowed Hardeman to race home and score the game-tying run.
Parkview’s Lauren Buchanan retook the the lead for the Lady Panthers in the 10th inning when she ripped a three-run triple to right field. However, her heroics proved to be short-lived.
Newton sophomore Camiyah Smith started the rally. She knocked an RBI single to the left side of the infield, plating a run to make it 7-5. On the next pitch, junior D’myia Jackson belted a two-run triple to left field, knotting the game up once again.
In stepped Hayden Pearson. The junior, who made the start in the circle and pitched six innings for the Lady Rams, played the role of hero by walking things off with a sacrifice fly that scored Jackson to lift her club to an 8-7 victory.
Newton improved to 15-8 overall and 6-4 in region play. The club is scheduled to be back in action Thursday evening when it travels to North Oconee before closing out the regular season against Grayson (Tuesday, Oct. 13) and Locust Grove (Thursday, Oct.15).
