BY NIC MILLER

STAR CORRESPONDENT

BLUFF CITY— The Happy Valley Lady Warriors softball team continued their Three Rivers tournament run Friday night at Sullivan East as they took on the Lady Cougars of Sullivan Central.

After losing one game in the tournament already, Happy Valley was hoping to stay alive in a win-or-go-home matchup.

Starting strong, the Lady Warriors were not able to keep up with Central as their season ended in a tough defeat.

Happy Valley started off the game firing on all cylinders. After a lead-off single to centerfield by Cierra Sutherland, she was able to come across the plate as a result of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Olivia Absher.

The Lady Cougars matched Happy Valley though as a two-RBI single by Alexa Chandler gave Central a 2-1 advantage after one inning of play.

After they started hot in the first inning, the Lady Warriors weren’t able to keep the momentum going as it was a three-up and three-down inning for Happy Valley in the second.

Central, however, was able to keep their foot on the gas adding one more run to their total.

With a pitching change for the Lady Warriors, Absher was able to stop the bleeding by putting the Lady Cougars away in a quick manner.

It was a repeat in the third for Happy Valley as they were yet again sat down in three at-bats.

The Lady Cougars, on the other hand, weren’t looking back bringing four more runners’ home in a half inning that couldn’t end soon enough for Happy Valley.

Down 7-1 at this point, the Lady Warriors were running out of outs to work with.

In the fourth inning, it seemed as if Happy Valley had kicked it into gear. The Lady Warriors were able to get on base after two straight hits by Kadie Havner and Maddie Lingerfelt.

This would be all that Happy Valley could muster leaving both runners stranded in the inning. It was a tale of two cities as Central was able to add onto their lead with a Katie Horn RBI double into the outfield.

After a three-inning run drought, Happy Valley was able to cut the Lady Cougar lead to five in the fifth when Laura Rice brought both Claire Johnson and Abby Hot around to score with a double to right field.

On the defensive side, the Lady Warriors put a stop to the Central scoring by only allowing one hit in the inning.

Down 8-3, it seemed as if Happy Valley was working their way towards a comeback.

There was not any action in the batter’s box for Happy Valley in the sixth inning as they were only able to get one hit to drop eventually leaving the runner stranded.

Central once again was able to show their power in the bottom frame with Chandler blasting a ball into the bleachers in left centerfield.

With a six-run gap going into the final inning, Happy Valley had three outs to keep their season alive.

In the final inning of play, the Lady Warriors were en route to a late-game comeback after Lingerfelt brought one run across to start the rally. Another run came across the plate when Macy Puckett was hit by a pitch, cutting the deficit to four runs.

Johnson kept it going as she drilled a ball to right-center field bringing two more Lady Warriors around to score.

But with one out remaining, there was only so much that Happy Valley could do as the Lady Warriors popped out to end the exciting affair with a 9-7 score in favor of Central bringing an end to the Happy Valley season.