Lady Braves sweep at Callaway Tourney

Senior P Sydney Gay (L) and junior P Caroline Jones (R)

(Franklin, GA) — The Lady Braves traveled to Shuford Fields in Lagrange Saturday where they scored two big shutout wins over Troup County teams at the annual Callaway Tournament.

Coach Matt Hornby’s squad were impressive in both an 11-0 win over Troup County High School and a 12-0 victory over Lagrange.

Coupled with the high powered offensive effort was the strong mound work by all four Lady Brave hurlers.

The statistical highlight of the day came via the arms of senior Sydney Gay and junior Caroline Jones who combined to toss a perfect game versus Troup. The duo retired all 15 batters they faced in the five inning run-rule win.

Offensively, the Lady Braves pounded out 10 hits while only striking out twice. Another senior/junior hurling tandem tossed a four-hit shutout in the solid win over Lagrange. Haley Bennett started and went three innings before handing it over to Jiles to close out the four inning run-rule win.

The offense managed 12 hits and did not strike-out. The defensive work behind the mound staff was an important factor as the team moved to 3-0 on the young season.

The Lady Braves will be back in action on the road Wednesday at Central (5:00 PM) before heading to the ‘Rival Rumble’ this Saturday to meet Bowdon and Bremen in Bowdon. This is the third year for the Rumble and the first time it has been hosted in Bowdon.

The first home game of the season versus Northgate next is next Wednesday, August 22 in Franklin.

Freshman SS Emma Helton

Coach Matt Hornsby was pleased with the effort of his team on Saturday.

“It was good to see the way we played today especially against a quality pitcher from Lagrange. The shorter games didn’t allow us to play as many of the girls for as long as we had planned but we told them that is a good problem to have,” said Hornsby after the game. “Our pitchers really threw well today.”

Hornsby says there have been some early surprises over the first three weeks.

“She’s only a freshman, but Emma Helton has been awesome for us this week not just at the plate but by stepping up at shortstop too,” added Hornsby. “Hannah Holden offensively has always been a really tough out and hit for a high average and this year she’s not only brought that back, but she has some added pop in her bat, too — which is a credit to her and all of our girl’s off-season work in the weight room.”

The Lady Braves are currently unranked in the state, but the could likely change sooner rather than later if they keep posting impressive wins over larger schools. All three wins have come over either AAAA or AAAAA schools with Class AAAA traditional power Central on tap for Wednesday.

The current AJC Top 5 teams in Class AA are defending champions Rockmart followed by Monticello, Banks County, Dodge County, and Armuchee.