Only two hours after their worst game of the season, the Harlan County Lady Bears bounced back with their best performance. Freshman left-hander Alexis Adams pitched a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and two walks as the Lady Bears defeated visiting Claiborne, Tenn., 3-1 on Saturday.
“We know what Lexi can bring to this team,” Harlan County coach Shelby Burton said. “We’ll see a lot of her in the next few years. This should give her a lot of confidence, and her team really backed her up in the field. You could tell she had confidence and wanted to win for her team. She dug in and didn’t let anything affect her mind on the mound, and that’s what it takes.”
A Harlan County defense that made eight errors earlier in the day in a 14-1 loss to Jackson County, the Lady Bears were almost flawless against Claiborne with one error after Burton made several position changes, including moving Brittleigh Estep from center field to third base.
“Claiborne has one of the best pitchers we’ll see, with a lot of speed, but our girls like to hit against pitchers like her,” Burton said. “Hats off to our girls because they could have easily hung their heads. We’ve had a tough week, but sometimes you have to dig down and fight for each other, and that’s what they did.”
Harlan County built a 1-0 lead in the second inning, and Adams made it hold up until allowing a run in the sixth to tie the game.
Jade Burton and Estep opened the bottom of the sixth inning with singles, then Lesleigh Brown came up with the biggest hit of the day when she ripped a two-run double left.
Claiborne got a runner on base with two outs in the seventh, but Estep ended the game when she fielded a bunt on the run and made the throw to first.
Adams, Rylie Maggard and Halanah Shepherd added one single each for the 1-4 Lady Bears.
The Lady Bears played without pitcher Madison Blair, who recently suffered a hip injury.
Harlan County plays host to Clay County on Monday.
