Surviving to play another day… Lady Cyclones defeat Johnson Co. to gain rematch against UC

Published 1:50 pm Thursday, May 13, 2021

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FROM STAFF REPORTS
During district tournament time, it’s put up or shut up and right now the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones still have a few things left unsaid as Coach Ken Hardin’s team staved off elimination in the Loser’s Bracket Final against Johnson County and now will have the opportunity to win the District title with two wins against Unicoi County.

The Lady Blue Devils defeated Elizabethton 10-5 in the Winner’s Bracket Final to set up the winner take all showdown Thursday evening at Lady Cyclone Diamond.

As always, the ladies from Mountain City didn’t make things easy as they battled the Lady Cyclones before falling 6-2.

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The Lady Cyclones jumped out of the gate quickly in this one as they scored four runs in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.

With one out, Maddie O’Quinn reached on a single and advanced to second on another single from Ember Jensen. A pop-fly out gave hope to the Lady Longhorns that they could get out of the inning unscathed but Kallista Deprimo erased any hopes of that with a base-clearing double to make it a 2-0 game.

Mollie Johnson singled followed by a two-RBI single from Kenidy Harris to plate Deprimo and Johnson staking the Lady Cyclones to the early 4-0 edge.

Neither team could put any runs on the board again until the bottom of the fifth inning when Elizabethton flipped the scoreboard two more times to make it a 6-0 contest.

Jensen led off with a single and didn’t have to stay on the basepath long as pitcher Madisun Pritchard belted a two-run homer over the left-field fence.

It was Pritchard’s second dinger in as many games.

Johnson County got their only two runs in the top of the seventh but it was too little too late for the Lady Longhorns as their season came to an end.