High school roundup: North Murray softball staves off comeback by Murray

Daniel Mayes, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Aug. 12—CHATSWORTH — North Murray (2-2) grabbed a lead, survived a comeback attempt and knocked off Murray County (0-4) 5-2 at Murray County High on Thursday evening.

North Murray built a 5-0 lead by the fifth inning. Murray loaded the bases in the sixth and scored a run, then added another in the seventh, but couldn't make up the early deficit.

North Murray scored first in the second inning. When the Lady Mountaineers loaded the bases, a Charley Patton deep fly came a few feet short of a grand slam, but Angel Tant was able to tag up for a score.

A Sunny Warren drive also nearly went over for a homer later in the inning, but Murray's Kenzie Jones caught the ball on the warning track for the third out.

In the third inning, the Mountaineers loaded the bases again before a Karsen Baldridge bunt scored Maddie Hyde. Baldridge and Janna Baggett scored on Kylie Corbin's ground ball.

North Murray scored its fifth run in the fifth inning, when Corbin hit an RBI single into left field, again bringing in Baggett.

Corbin was 2-for-3 with three RBIs for North Murray, and she was the only Mountaineer to have a multi-hit day against Murray pitcher Kylie Usrey.

Both pitchers went the full seven innings. Usrey allowed five hits and struck out three, but had eight walks.

Patton managed the mound for North Murray, striking out four and keeping Murray off of the board until the sixth.

Usrey, who was 2-for-3, singled to start the sixth, then Kylee Johnson got aboard with another single. After a walk, Murray had the bases loaded. Jones grounded the ball to short, but Kali Mayberry, running for Usrey, scored.

After two Patton walks and two outs in the seventh, a Kholee Fouts single to center field brought in Charsley Richards to make the score 5-2, but Patton recovered and forced a groundout to end the game.

North Murray's win was the first over Murray County since 2018.

North Murray plays Armuchee in a home doubleheader Saturday starting at 10 a.m., while the Lady Indians play on the road against Haralson County on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Also in high school sports action on Thursday:

Volleyball

Christian Heritage downs Southeast, falls to Ridgeland in tri-match; Lady Raiders drop two

Christian Heritage (1-1) opened its season by splitting a tri-match at Ridgeland High School, shutting down Southeast Whitfield (0-2) in two sets, but falling to host Ridgeland (2-0) in three.

Christian Heritage downed Southeast 25-15 and 25-13 in the two sets. Against Ridgeland, Christian Heritage won the first set 25-22, but Ridgeland came back to win the second 25-21 and the third 15-11. Southeast also fell to Ridgeland in two sets, 25-19 and 25-10

Riley Strickland led the way for the Lady Lions with 17 digs, nine kills, eight assists, two aces and a block, while Ryleigh Payne had nine kills and eight digs. Victoria Smith had 17 digs for Christian Heritage, while Mia Hill had 22 assists, five digs and a pair of aces. Taylor Hare had seven kills with three aces.

For Southeast, Cristiany Pineda tallied 22 digs and four assists, while Trinity Burse had nine digs and three kills. Miracle Godoy tallied three kills.

Christian Heritage plays Southeast again as part of a tri-match at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Thursday at 6 p.m., while Southeast competes at a tournament in Adairsville on Saturday.