MOUNTAIN CITY- The Cloudland Middle School Girls Softball team knew they had to win or they would go home on Monday night.

Unfortunately, they were sent home by an excellent Johnson County team in a hard-fought contest.

The Jr. Lady Highlanders lost a close contest to Johnson County Middle by a final score of 7-3.

The score, however, did not indicate how close the game really was.

Johnson County scored early in the bottom of the first inning when they started with a double and eventually put a run on the board.

Cloudland battled back in the top of the second when Bella Clawson used good base running and sheer speed to score.

Katie Baldwin would cross the plate for the Jr. Lady’ Landers again during the third inning and Bella Clawson struck again during the top of the fourth inning, giving Cloudland a 3-1 lead.

Meanwhile, Johnson County finally got on the scoreboard again during the bottom of the fifth inning when the Jr. Lady Longhorns Shepherd hit a hard ground ball to Cloudland’s Ella Benfield.

Benfield allowed the ball to get by her and Johnson County scored another run.

Johnson County scored two more runs during the inning and the inning ended in an unusual way.

Johnson County’s coach Haley Miller touched one of her players who was on first base. The umpire called that player out because her coach had touched her and the inning ended with Johnson County in the lead 4-3.

Johnson County shut Cloudland down during the top of the sixth inning and added three more runs to the scoreboard to make the score 7-3.

Cloudland then failed to get on the board during the top of the seventh and the game ended.

Birchfield was the losing pitcher while the Jr. Lady’ Horns Fritts notched the win.

The victory puts Johnson County in the championship game on Tuesday night against Unaka.

Cloudland ended their season third in the conference and third in the conference tournament.

The Jr. Lady Highlanders can say they gave Johnson County all they could handle but they still have some work to do before another year.

Cloudland improved as the season progressed and could be a tough team to beat next season.