BY NIC MILLER

STAR CORRESPONDENT

BLUFF CITY— After beating the Sullivan South Lady Rebels earlier in the evening, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones had to turn right back around and take on Unicoi County for a chance at the district tournament championship and a spot in the regional softball tournament.

The Lady Cyclones gave it their all but couldn’t get anything to go their way as their season ended in an 8-0 defeat.

This game seemed as if it would be another defensive battle for the Lady Cyclones after neither team was able to bring a run across to score in the first inning of play.

The second inning was a repeat of the first for Elizabethton, going three up and three down in the top half.

Unicoi County, on the other hand, started to heat up. After allowing two runners to score via two bases-loaded walks, Halie Hawkins was able to bring two more runners home with a double to right center field.

It didn’t stop there as Unicoi was able to bring two more runners across in the inning making it a 6-0 ball game early.

In the third inning, the Lady Cyclones still couldn’t get anything to drop as they yet had not recorded a hit.

Elizabethton was able to bounce back in the bottom of the inning allowing only one runner to get aboard.

The Lady Cyclones were able to collect their first hit of the night in the fourth after Maggie Johnson used her speed to reach on a lead-off infield single.

She was followed by Maddie O’Quinn who hit an infield single of her own. The bad luck made its way back though as Elizabethton left the runners stranded.

In the home half, the Lady Cyclones were once again able to stand their ground getting three quick outs of the Lady Blue Devils to end the inning.

A Haley Fair walk kicked off the fifth but Elizabethton once again couldn’t find an open spot as they were retired quickly after.

The Lady Devils were able to add one more to their run total after an Ashtan Vance infield single allowed a runner to score.

Kallista Deprimo started the sixth inning of play with a single to left field but it was the same story for the Lady Cyclones as everything they seemed to hit found a Unicoi glove.

The Lady Blue Devils were able to go up by eight after Chloe Powers was able to hit a pitch to left field bringing Samantha Chavez home.

With three more outs to work with, the Lady Cyclones didn’t have the momentum losing by a final of 8-0.

With this being their second tournament loss, the game marked the end of a terrific season by the Lady Cyclones.

Head coach Kenny Hardin had nothing but praises for his team after the season-ending loss, saying, “The last loss is always tough, there’s only one team that’s happy at the end of the season.

“I can’t say enough about my seniors, what they’ve done and what they mean to this program.

“Haley (Fair) won the region for us her freshman year hitting a home run, and (Kira) Dillard basically won a district tournament hitting two grand slams, and then Hannah (Edwards) won one for us last year with a big base hit— I’m just proud of those kids.

“And on the other hand, I think the freshmen stepped up tonight and proved that they belong,” continued Hardin. “I looked out there at one time and we had two sophomores and two freshmen playing the infield with a freshman pitcher.

“It looks good for us if they can come back and work like these seniors that have come in front of them did.”