COSBY— The Unaka Lady Rangers are hungry for a return trip to Murfreesboro and the Spring Fling state softball tournament next week.

On Wednesday against the Cosby Lady Eagles, the Lady Rangers inched closer to gaining a return trip by winning the Region 1-A tournament in a thrilling 7-5 contest as Tayla Potter was on fire smacking not one, not two, but three home runs in a 3-for-3 performance and collected five RBI’s in the contest.

Potter went yard in the second, fourth, and seventh innings batting in the number eight spot in the lineup.

While Potter was doing her thing at the plate, Unaka was giving the one-two punch of pitchers Kailey Wilson and Sadie Shoun against the Lady Eagles.

Wilson started from the circle and pitched two innings allowing three runs on five hits and a walk. Shoun came on in relief to finish out the contest working five innings allowing two runs on nine hits with one strikeout and no walks to earn the win.

Cosby jumped out front 1-0 at the end of the first inning. The Lady Rangers responded with three runs in the top of the second inning to take a 3-1 advantage.

The Lady Eagles regrouped in the bottom of the second responding with two runs to even the score at 3-all.

Cosby regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning after holding Unaka scoreless in the top half of the inning. The Lady Eagles plated a solo run to go up 4-3.

Potter quickly changed that in the top of the fourth with her second dinger of the day as Unaka slid back in front 5-4 in the seesaw affair.

The Lady Rangers got some added cushion in the top of the seventh after both teams went scoreless in the fifth and sixth frames.

Once again Potter was in the mix with her third home run as the Lady Rangers would take a 7-4 edge to the final half inning of regulation play.

Cosby managed to push one across the plate in the bottom of the seventh but that was all she wrote as the Lady Rangers recorded the final out to earn the sectional home game Friday at Ronnie Hicks Field.

Madison Pierce, Shoun, Erika Potter, Noelle Collins, and Taylor Shanks recorded one hit each in the win with Shanks, Collins, and Shoun going extra bases with a double.

Humphrey, Weeks, Sutton, Childress, and Taylor had two hits apiece in the 14-hit Lady Eagle performance.

Dyke took the loss from the circle for Cosby.

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Region 1-A Softball Final

Unaka, 7-5

Unaka      030 200 2— 7    8  2

Cosby      121 000 1— 5  14  2

WP: Shoun. LP: Dyke.