Henry County girls’ softball fans probably had lumps in their throats on Monday night as the Lady Patriots were locked in a 2-2 tie — in extra innings — with the Springfield Lady Jackets in the opener of the Region 7-4A tournament at Henry County High School.

Their throats cleared up moments later, though, when Henry County notched a walk-off win on a sacrifice fly by Audrey Hill and the Lady Patriots won, 3-2.

The win pushed the Big Red into the championship game in the regional tourney against Dickson County, which knocked off Rossview, 4-1, Monday at Rossview.

The championship game will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at HCHS.

The Lady Patriots have played Dickson County, which plays in the same District 14-4A as HCHS, four times this season and have won all four.

In the regional game Monday against Springfield, Breely Peirpoint led off the bottom of the eighth for Henry County with an infield single. Lilly Steele went in to run as a courtesy runner for Peirpoint.

Reed Jackson singled to left, moving Steele to second. A sacrifice bunt by Alley French moved the runners up, then Lee’s flyout to right got Steele home with the winning run.

Henry County’s first run scored on a wild pitch in the fifth, and Peirpoint delivered an RBI double for a run in the sixth.

Celia Lamkin earned the win for the Lady Patriots. She allowed two hits and two runs over eight innings, striking out 11 and walking two.

Henry County is 24-4-1 on the season entering the regional tournament.

The Lady Patriots had advanced to the region by beating Dickson County twice in the District 14-4A tournament last week in Paris.

The Big Red won, 2-0, on May 9 and 6-2 on May 10. Irelynn Beecham was the winning pitcher in the championship game, giving up three hits in seven innings. Lamkin had started the district tourney with a bang, pitching a no-hitter in the 2-0 win on May 9.

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