Just one day after a Heather Gibson walk off home run
ended the Lady Cats game against Polk County two
innings early, Sweetwater needed two extra innings to
beat the Meigs County Lady Tigers 1-0 on a Kayla Kerns
bunt single that scored Emily Crush from second base.
The Lady Cats produced the game’s only run in the
bottom of the ninth without the ball ever leaving the
infield.

Crush led off with a slap single past third base. Casey
Newton moved Crush to second with a sacrifice bunt, her
second of the day.
Sweetwater head coach Eric Weaver caught the Lady Tigers
off guard with his next move.

Weaver called for Kerns, one of Sweetwater’s top power-
hitters, to bunt. Kerns executed the bunt and alert base
running by Crush allowed her to take home standing up.
“The last time [Kerns] was up, Meigs played back on the
bags,” said Weaver. “I knew if she got it away it’d roll. I
felt like if we could move the runner up we could get one
more hit [to score Crush].”

Kerns turned in another gem for Sweetwater, giving up
only seven hits while striking out 10 in a complete game
effort.
Kerns has pitched all 21 innings of the district tournament
for the Lady Cats and struck out 32 batters in the three
games.

However, Sweetwater lived on the edge all game long as
the Lady Tigers left 15 runners on base with 12 of those
being in scoring position.
However, the Sweetwater defense was at its best with
runners in scoring position and did not allow a Lady Tiger
to cross the plate.

Meigs County’s Jordan Scott kept Sweetwater off balance
early in the game as Scott was perfect through three
innings. Six Lady Cats popped out in their first at-bat,
although none of those hits left the infield.
Kerns was equally impressive in the circle, allowing only
two hits through the first four innings.

Meigs County threatened to score first in the top of the
third inning as the Lady Tigers had runners on second and
third with two outs.
However, Kerns struck out Scott to end the threat.
The Lady Cats put their first runner in scoring position in
the bottom of the fourth when Crush collected an infield
single to short.

Newton moved her to second with a sacrifice, but a strike
out and pop out to short by Andrea Adams stranded
Crush on second.
Meigs County threatened again in the fifth when Lindsay
Arndts reached third.

Crush made the defensive play of the game from her
shortstop position, showing ranging in front of the
second base to take away a sure hit from Ashley Shaver
and making the throw to first to end the threat.
That looked to be the play that would give Sweetwater the
momentum it would need as Amber Plemons and Newton
singled and reached second and third.
However, they were stranded when Kerns popped out to
first.

Meigs County loaded the bases in the seventh and had
runners on second and third in the eight and ninth
innings, but solid defense by the Lady Cats held the
visitors off the scoreboard.
The Lady Tigers best chance to break the tie came in the
ninth, but Shaver was thrown out at home.

Those defensive stands led to the Sweetwater run in the
bottom of the ninth, securing the win.
Sweetwater punched its ticket to the region tournament
with the win, securing its place as one of the district’s top
two teams.

The Lady Cats were scheduled to host Meigs County, who
topped Boyd Buchanan 8-3 on Wednesday, for the
championship on Thursday evening.

A win by Sweetwater would secure the district
championship while a loss would force another game with
the Lady Tigers to decide the championship.