Lady Cougars stay hot on offense in win over Harlan County

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Chris Jones

Letcher Central center fielder Abigail McDougal connected on a pitch in Tuesday’s game at Harlan County. McDougal had a single and sacrifice fly in the Lady Cougars’ 13-7 win.

By John Henson, Managing Editor

With a little over a week left in the regular season, the Letcher Central Lady Cougars are among the 14th Region favorites.
One big reason for their success has been an offense that has reached double digits in runs 14 times, including a 13-7 win Tuesday at Harlan County that boosted the Lady Cougars’ record to 19-6.
Letcher scored in five of seven innings on Tuesday in a 17-hit night. Sophomore first baseman Makennah Johnson pounded out four hits in five at bats with a triple, double and two singles. Kylie Wright added a double and two singles out of the ninth spot in the order. Raygan Anderson had two doubles and a single. Gracie McDougal singled twice. Chloe Wampler, Baleigh Potter, Abigail McDougal, Mackenzie Nantz and Olivia Frazier added one single each.
Alyssa Nicely pitched five innings to earn the win as she struck out seven and walked two while giving up seven runs on two hits. Johnson pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and no runs with two strikeouts and no walks.
Allee Galloway led the 11-7 Lady Bears with a double and single. Jacey Lewis, Honesty Thomas, Brittleigh Estep and Maddy Blair had two singles each. Brandy Adams added a double. Kerrigan Creech contributed a single.
Creech suffered the loss as she gave up 17 hits while striking out five and walking one.
Letcher took a 5-0 lead in the second inning with the help of six hits and two HCHS errors.
The Lady Bears scored once in the bottom of the inning as Galloway doubled and scored on Thomas’ hit.
Wright had a two-run single in the third inning as Letcher’s lead grew to 7-1. Lewis singled and scored on Adams’ double in the bottom of the inning.
Johnson tripled and scored on Abigail McDougal’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Johnson added a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning as the lead grew to 11-2.
Harlan County fought back with five run sin the fifth. Galloway, Creech and Thomas each had RBI hits in the inning. Joselyn Lee scored on a wild pitch.
Anderson had a two-run double in the seventh inning after Johnson and Abigail McDougal had two-out hits.
Harlan County will be at home against Whitley County on Thursday. Letcher Central plays at Pike Central on Thursday.
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Letcher Central 052 130 2 — 13. 17. 2
Harlan County 011 050 0 — 7. 12. 5
Nicely, Johnson (6) and Potter; Creech and Adams. WP — Nicely. LP — Creech (10-6).