Published: 01 September 2010
Newcomers and old foes alike beware, the Etowah Lady Eagles are not ready to relinquish their spot atop the region.
Opening 5AAAAA play, the No. 7 state-ranked and defending region champion Lady Eagles welcomed both Wheeler and Lassiter into the 5AAAAA fold with defeats, knocking off Wheeler, 7-2, on Aug. 24, and the second-ranked Lady Trojans, 5-3, on Aug. 26.
“I think the girls are confident right now, but they still know that we have a lot of work to do,” Etowah coach Tonya Sebring said. “I felt like we got better each game.
“We had some girls out so we had to shuffle our lineup around a little bit, but people stepped up and made plays for us.”
Among those was Torrie Garner, who highlighted the Lady Eagles’ offensive output in both wins, going 3-for-4 with an RBI against Wheeler and 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI versus Lassiter.
“She’s hitting the ball well for us right now, and she came up with some big RBI,” Sebring said of her sophomore catcher.
Jenna Ertel, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in the Wheeler win, and Hannah Dickey collected a pair of hits in three trips to the plate against Lassiter.
Lilly Kosicki started and picked up the win in both bouts, allowing one earned run on two hits in 3.1 innings of work against Wheeler and surrendering three earned runs on four hits versus Lassiter. She gave way to Chelsi Palazzo in both contests, as the sophomore right-hander combined to allow five hits and three walks and struck out four in 6.2 innings of scoreless relief to log a pair of saves.
Sandwiched between the region wins, the Lady Eagles (5-1) knocked off former region foe North Cobb, 3-2, on Aug. 25.
Kosicki went the distance in the circle and allowed no earned runs on two hits and five strikeouts, while Allie Brown and Kari Kviten had a pair of hits each to lead the offense.
In another busy week, Etowah was to battle region- and county-foe Woodstock on Aug. 31, before taking on Harrison today at 5 p.m. and Marietta on Thursday at 5 p.m. – all at home.
