The Elizabethton softball team got things rolling and never looked back to open the District 1-3A tournament.
The Lady Cyclones pulled away to take a 9-1 victory over Unicoi County on Friday evening in the opening round of the District 1-3A tournament at Rotary Park in Bristol.
With the win, Elizabethton advanced to take on David Crockett on Monday in the winner’s bracket. Unicoi County moved into an elimination game against Sullivan East on Monday.
After the game went scoreless through three innings, Elizabethton struck first as Piper Bennett scored off an Adrian Heading single with two outs to give EHS a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Cyclones struck again in the fifth as Lily McDuffie scored off a Mollie Johnson sac fly before Lela Byrd hit a home run over the center field fence that allowed Emma O’Quinn to also score. EHS held a 4-0 lead after five complete innings.
The sixth inning went scoreless.
Elizabethton left no doubt in the seventh.
EHS loaded the bases to open the inning, and Grace Whaley and Johnson scored off a Unicoi error. The next at-bat saw Sadie Williams hit a home run that plated O’Quinn and Addy Campbell to give the Lady Cyclones a 9-0 lead.
The Lady Blue Devils added a run in the bottom of the ninth, but the Lady Cyclones were able to secure the win.
Johnson, O’Quinn, Byrd, and Heading each had two hits a piece. Williams had three RBI, while Byrd added two RBI.
In the circle, Byrd pitched a gem as she allowed just one earned run on three hits with 10 strikeouts.
