The Lady Canes were shutout by visiting Chapel Hill Thursday night 11-0 behind a complete-game, two-hitter by Panthers’ pitcher Kira Morgan. Morgan needed only 62 pitches in her six inning effort. She fanned six. Chapel Hill led 5-0 through three innings, added two more in the fifth and four in the sixth inning. Jazlyn Perry went 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI to pace Chapel Hill’s offense. Paige Vincent had two hits and seven other Panthers added one hit apiece. AnnaKate McElhaney and Colbi Ballard had the only Cartersville base hits. Ballard (3 IP, 5ER, 4H, 7BB, 2K) started in the circle and suffered the pitching loss. AnnaKate McElhaney (3 IP, 6R, 5ER, 7H, 3BB, 2K) worked the final three frames. Chapel Hill improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in Region 5-AAAA. Cartersville (5-3, 3-3) will play Pickens Friday at Hamilton Crossing Park at 8:30 p.m. as part of the Allatoona Buccaneer Bash. The Lady Canes are scheduled to face Union Grove and Alexander Saturday at Kennesaw Mountain High School in back-to-back games starting at 1 p.m. MURRAY COUNTY 5, ADAIRSVILLE 4 The Adairsville Lady Tigers softball squad lost a fifth, one-run decision Thursday night falling to the visiting Murray County Indians, 5-4 in eight innings. Adairsville led 4-2 through five innings, but Murray scored twice in the sixth to knot the score 4-4. A scoreless seventh frame sent the game to extra innings. Three singles, including two hits after two outs plated the Indians game-winning run. The Lady Tigers got a base runner to third in their half of the eighth, but were unable to push the run across. Rileigh Morgan and Jordan Swanson combined for six of Murray County’s twelve hits. Natalie O’Neal (8 IP, 4R, 2ER, 5H, 2BB, 5K) pitched all eight innings for the Indians. Taylor Rhoades (3 IP, 1R, 0ER, 3H, 0BB, 2K) suffered the pitching loss for Adairsville in relief of Victoria O’Neal (5 IP, 4ER, 9H, 0BB, 6K) Sierra Tanner had two hits including a double for the Lady Tigers. Tori Lee, Natalie Burrow, and Chloe Souders added one hit apiece. Havyn Isaac forced in a run. Murray County improved to 2-8 overall and 1-5 in Region 6-AAA. Adairsville (2-9, 1-6) plays Sequoyah Saturday at 3 p.m. in a non-region game at North Cobb.

Woodland softball scored at least one run in every frame Thursday night as the Lady Cats outlasted visiting rival Cass, 8-6, in a Region 7-AAAAA contest. The two teams combined for 25 hits and Cass threatened late, but Woodland held off the Lady Colonels. After each team scored a run in the first inning, Woodland built a 4-1 lead through three innings. Cass narrowed the margin to 4-3 in the top of the fourth, but the Lady Cats answered with two runs in the bottom half of the fourth and another single run in the fifth to build a 7-3 lead. Both teams scored a run in the sixth to make it 8-4, before Cass scored twice in the top of the seventh for an 8-6 final. Madi Bentley earned a complete-game pitching victory for the Lady Cats. She walked five and struck out nine in seven innings. All six Cass runs were earned. Rachael Lee (3.2 IP, 6R, 3ER, 10H, 0BB, 2K, L) and Macenzie Dougharty (2.1 IP, 2R, 0ER, 2H, 1BB) split time in the pitching circle for the Colonels. Dougharty was 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and three RBI for the Cass offense. Kelly Young was 3-for-4. Maggie Collum had two hits including a double and one RBI. Hallie Owens had two hits including a double. Eryn Lee, Jaden Musacchio, and Kimberly Allen had the other Lady Colonels’ hits. Lee also stole two bases. Ansley Evans paced Woodland with three hits. Bella Carnes and Jordan Duck drove in two runs each and both had two hits. Kendyl Hardin had two hits including a double. Morgan Bailey, Caroline Higdon, and Skylar Chappell had the other hits for the Lady Cats. Carnes, Evans, and Hannah Miller stole one base each. Woodland improved to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in region action. Cass falls to 1-3 overall and 1-3 in Region 7-AAAAA. Both Cass and Woodland will host portions of the Allatoona Buccaneers Bash this weekend. Cass plays Pickes and Allatoona Friday at Hamilton Crossing Park and will face Bainbridge and Lovett on Saturday. Woodland hosts Coffee and Armuchee Friday evening before facing Brunswick and South Paulding on Saturday.

WOODLAND EARNS SPLIT IN MATCHES AT ROCKMART The Lady Cats split a pair of non-region volleyball matches at Rockmart High School Tuesday evening. Woodland defeated Rockmart 25-10 and 25-14 after a loss to Central-Carroll in three sets, 25-16, 22-25, and 15-10. In the victory over Rockmart, Noelle Dickey had three aces, two assists, and three kills. Sydney Molinaro contributed two aces, two digs, six kills, and one block. In the loss to Central, Caroline Gore had seven kills and three digs. Molinaro added four digs, two kills, one assist, and eight blocks. Macey Vaughn contributed 10 digs, one ace, six assists, and two kills. CARTERSVILLE FALLS IN PAIR OF ROAD MATCHES Cartersville volleyball lost a pair of matches Tuesday evening at River Ridge High School falling in three sets in each. Host River Ridge topped Cartersville 25-7, 15-25, 15-8 in the opening match. The Lady Canes fell to Cambridge in the second match, 25-13, 25-27, and 15-10. Nedu Evans had 37 kills in the two matches combined. Grace Hunter finished with 66 assists and Anna Mathis added 21 digs. “We’ve been inconsistent,” said Cartersville coach Dutch Cothran. “We are addressing it and we just have to keep driving on until we get things going. Hopefully, that will be pretty soon.” The Lady Canes (2-9) host Coosa and Adairsville Thursday at the Storm Center starting at 5 p.m. CASS SWEPT IN MATCHES AT ROME The Lady Colonels dropped two matches Tuesday at Rome High School, narrowly falling to Chattooga 25-22 and 25-23 before a 25-16, 25-20 loss to Rome. Cass plays at East Paulding Thursday at 5:30 p.m. LADY TIGERS FALL AFTER WINNING OPENING SET Adairsville volleyball won the first set against Murray County Tuesday 25-17, but dropped the next two sets 25-22 and 15-3 in a loss to the Lady Indians. The Lady Tigers then fell to Armuchee in straight sets 25-20 and 25-20 to watch their season mark slip to 0-6. Adairsville will seek to make improvements with the important Region 6-AAA schedule on the horizon. They play another non-region match Thursday at Cartersville.

LADY CATS TOP LONGHORNS Woodland softball scored five runs in the top of the first Tuesday evening at Kell and made it hold up in a 5-4 Region 7-AAAAA victory. Kell chipped away with two runs in the second inning and single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but came away one run short. Even after narrowing the Woodland lead to 5-4 with one out in the final frame the Longhorns loaded the bases, but pitcher Lady Cats’ pitcher Sarah Baynard escaped the threat. She induced a ground ball force out at home and then finished off the Longhorns with a strikeout to end the game. Baynard picked up the pitching victory with a complete-game. She scattered 11 hits in seven innings of work allowing four runs (three earned) with one walk and five strikeouts. Savannah Markt led Kell with three hits. Gracie Glass, Brooke Kell, and Lexy McCullough added two hits each for the Longhorns. Ansley Evans paced Woodland with three hits. Jordan Duck had two hits including a double and one RBI. Caroline Higdon also had two hits and one RBI. Bella Carnes contributed a pair of hits. Morgan Cooper finished with a hit and two RBI. Kendyl Hardin and Morgan Bailey added one hit apiece. Kell slipped to 3-2 overall and 3-2 in region action. Woodland (3-4, 2-2) hosts county rival Cass Thursday at 5:55 p.m. CARTERSVILLE WALKS OFF WITH WIN OVER PATRIOTS E Jenkins scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night as the Lady Canes picked up a Region 5-AAAA walk-off victory over visiting Sandy Creek. Jenkins actually stuck out to start the inning, but reached first when the catcher couldn’t handle strike three. She was sacrificed to second base by Mattie Johnson who actually ended up on first due to a Sandy Creek miscue. Jenkins stole third to set up the game-winning run. Cartersville battled from behind just to get the game into extra innings. Sandy Creek scored three runs in the top of the first and added another run in the third inning. The Lady Canes chipped away to tie with a run in the first, two in the second, and one more run in the third inning to knot the score at 4-4. From there, both pitchers and the defenses kept the game at 4-all into the extra frame. Kaliyah Smith (7+ IP, 4R, 2ER, 6H, 5BB, 6K) suffered the loss for Sandy Creek with a complete-game effort. Cartersville’s Colbi Ballard (8 IP, 1ER, 5H, 4BB, 12K) earned the pitching win in relief of AnnaKate McElhaney (3R, 2ER, 3H, 1BB). Makenzie Gay paced the Lady Pats offense with three doubles and two RBI. Six different Cartersville players had one hit each. Presley Edwards doubled. Jenkins (RBI), Lauren McElhaney, Ballard (RBI), AnnaKate McElhaney, and Cio Seigler (RBI) added one hit each. Brooklyn Pittman contributed one RBI. With their loss, Sandy Creek falls to 3-4 overall and 0-3 in region play. Cartersville (5-2, 3-2) hosts Chapel Hill Thursday at 5:45 p.m. and will play in the Buccaneer Bash at Hamilton Crossing Park Friday against Pickens before playing two more games in the tournament Saturday at Kennesaw Mountain High School. LADY TIGERS SUFFER ROAD REGION LOSS Adairsville softball battled in a 2-2 tie into the final inning Tuesday night at region opponent Haralson County, but lost a tough decision, 3-2. The Lady Rebels took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but Adairsville tied the game 2-2 in the fourth. Ellie Maria had four hits for Haralson County with two RBI, including a game-winning, walk-off double in the final inning. Emily Lightfoot drove in the other Rebels’ run. Victoria O’Neal had two hits, including a home run and two RBI to pace the Tigers’ offense. Havyn Isaac, Alexa Varner, Sierra Tanner, and Cortni Jacobs had the other Adairsville base hits. Taylor Rhoades (2 IP, 2ER, 5H) started in the pitching circle for the Tigers. O’Neal (4 IP, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K) suffered the loss in relief. Haralson County improved to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in Region 6AAA. Adairsville (2-9, 1-5) hosts Murray County in another region game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and will play in a tournament at North Cobb on Saturday.

Adairsville softball lost a tough Region 6-AAA matchup at Calhoun Monday night, 3-1. The Yellow Jackets improved to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in region action with their win. For Adairsville, Sadye Johnson and Victoria O’Neal contributed one hit each. Cortni Jacobs added a pair of sacrifice bunts to put runners in scoring position and earned the Tigers’ RBI. O’Neal also started in the circle and pitched 6.2 innings. She finished with four strikeouts. Taylor Rhoades recorded the other out with a strikeout. Adairsville (2-7, 1-4) travels to Haralson County Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. start and will face Sequoyah Saturday in a non-region matchup at North Cobb High School.

Cartersville volleyball dropped a straight sets decision to visiting Sequoyah Monday night at the Storm Center. The Lady Chiefs won 25-15, 25-19, and 25-23 and improved to 5-3 on the season. “We lacked some energy tonight,” said Lady Canes’ coach Dustin Cothran after the match. “We eventually picked up the pace a little bit, but just never sustained a run long enough to get ahead.” Nedu Evans finished the three set match with 24 kills and 18 digs. Grace Hunter compiled 48 assists with 10 digs. Anna Mathis contributed 18 digs and three aces, while Anna Grace Brock added 16 digs. “We knew we had a tough schedule early and it would be easy to be frustrated right now,” Cothran stated. “The girls are working hard, however, and they’ll continue to do so. Plain and simple, our ball control and defense needs to improve. We’ll continue addressing those issues.” Cartersville (2-7) plays Tuesday at River Ridge against the Knights and Cambridge.

Minor League baseball schedules around the country are winding down in late August and the three local players continue their contributions. Most MiLB regular seasons wrap up in the final days of August or just after the Labor Day weekend. Connor Justus was promoted back to the Double-A Mobile BayBears in the Los Angeles Angels' organization. Sam Howard made his 18th start this season for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, and recent Cartersville High grad Anthony Seigler continues his work with the Rookie-level Pulaski Yankees. Top photo (L-R) Sam Howard, Connor Justus, Anthony Seigler SAM HOWARD — Albuquerque Isotopes (5th-yr. pro; LHP; Triple-A Pacific Coast League; Colorado Rockies organization; Georgia Southern; Cartersville HS)… went 5 and 2/3 innings last Thursday in a no-decision start. He allowed a pair of earned runs on four hits without issuing a walk. He fanned four. The Isotopes eventually lost the home game 4-2 to Sacramento. For the year, Howard has a 3-6 record for Albuquerque in 18 starts and 80 innings pitched. He has a 5.06 ERA with 66 strikeouts and 29 walks. He has also been called up to join the MLB Rockies on two occasions during the 2018 season. Howard made his lone major league appearance back on June 10 against Arizona when he pitched one inning of relief and allowed only one hit in a scoreless frame. Albuquerque (59-67) plays at El Paso Tuesday through Thursday before hosting a four-game series with Reno Friday through next Monday. CONNOR JUSTUS — Mobile BayBears (3rd-yr. pro; MIF; Double-A Southern League; L.A. Angels organization; Georgia Tech; Cartersville HS)… was promoted back to the Double-A BayBears last Tuesday and has split time playing shortstop and second base while batting sixth in the Mobile order. After hitting .290 with 29 RBI and six homers in 47 games back with Advanced Class A Inland Empire, Justus was assigned back to Mobile where he started the 2018 season. In six games last week at Biloxi, he was 1-for-17 with three walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Through 110 games and 381 at-bats this year split between Mobile and Inland Empire, Justus has a .228 batting average with 42 RBI and 24 extra base hits. His defensive numbers have been solid all season with a fielding percentage at .947 in 266 chances and over 600 innings. Mobile (24-30, Southern League second half) is at home through Thursday to play the Mississippi Braves five times, including a Monday night doubleheader. The BayBears then travel to Pensacola for a five-game set beginning Friday. ANTHONY SEIGLER — Pulaski Yankees (1st-yr. pro; C; Rookie level Appalachian League; N.Y. Yankees organization; Cartersville HS)… saw action in three of Pulaski’s six game last week and went 1-for-9 at the plate with a pair of walks and scored one run. His hit came last Monday night in a home game against the Danville Braves. Although the switch-hitting catcher is hitting only .194 over his last ten games, he carries a .266 batting average through his first 24 minor league games. He has one home run, three doubles, nine RBI, and has walked 14 times in a dozen games in both the Gulf Coast League (Yankees West) and the Appalachian League. Pulaski (29-29) closes out a road series at Bristol Monday night before hosting a four-game set with Princeton Tuesday through Friday. The team will then close out the 2018 season on the road at Bluefield and Elizabethton Saturday through the following Wednesday.

This Friday night, the Cass Colonels open their 2018 football season by hosting county rival Adairsville in a continuation of the longest-running rivalry series in Bartow County. The series dates back to the 1956 season with Cass holding a 30-21-1 advantage in 52 games. While it is the season opener for the Colonels, Adairsville will enter the contest with a win under their belts. The Tigers scored a touchdown and added a two-point conversion with just over two minutes remaining last Friday to edge visiting Chattooga, 21-20. Adairsville won last season’s matchup with Cass 29-15, but the Colonels have won 10 of the most recent 13 games with a tie occurring in 2002. The Tigers controlled the series in the 1970s, winning 9 of 10 games between 1971 and 1980. That came on the heels of a stretch where Cass won 10 of 11 games between 1962 and 1970. This year’s game returns to Cochran Stadium on the campus of Cass High School. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. series data from GHSFH

Cartersville softball split a Region 5-AAAA doubleheader Saturday with visiting Troup County. The Lady Tigers won the opener 11-4 but the Lady Canes responded to blank Troup in Game 2, 5-0. Colbi Ballard tossed a complete-game, three-hitter in the shutout victory for Cartersville. Ballard walked three and fanned ten. She also went 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk and three RBI to help lead the offense. AnnaKate McElhaney and Presley Edwards both finished with three hits including one double apiece. In the opener, Troup’s Avery Pearson worked a complete-game victory in the circle. She scattered seven hits and a walk for only one earned run. Pearson struck out two. Skye Loftin led the Lady Tigers at the plate in their win. Loftin tripled, homered, and walked to finish the first game 3-for-3 with six RBI. Four Hurricanes had multi-hit days. Ballard finished the doubleheader 4-for-6 with a double, sacrifice fly, four RBI, and two stolen bases. Edwards was 4-for-7 with a double. AnnaKate McElhaney was 3-for-8 on the day with a double and scored a run while Lauren McElhaney had two hits and swiped a base. With the split, Troup County is now 5-7 overall and 2-1 in region action. Cartersville (4-2, 2-2) will entertain Sandy Creek in another region game Tuesday at 5:55 p.m.

The Cass High School volleyball team played three matches Saturday at the Coosa Invitational. The Lady Colonels picked up a win in one of those matches, beating Unity by scores of 25-22 and 25-16. Cass dropped their other two matches against defending AA state champion Coosa. The host Eagles won 25-13, 25-7 in the first match of the day and 25-8 and 25-10 to end the Colonels' tournament. Cass head coach Alan Potter credited Alexis Ware, Madison Philpott and Keegan Krause as standouts from the day, but noted the well-rounded team play of Coosa. Cass will travel to Rome on Tuesday in a tri-match with the Wolves and Chattooga.

The Adairsville High softball team struggled to score runs in the Lady Cat Classic in Dalton over the weekend, but did manage one win in the tournament. The Lady Tigers fell by scores of 2-1 to Ridgeland and 14-1 to Heritage on Saturday. On Friday night at the same tournament, Adairsville defeated Gilmer 5-1, but was shutout by Gordon Lee 6-0. Adairsville (2-7, 1-3) resumes action in Region 6-AAA Monday when the Tigers travel to Calhoun.

Three of the four local high school football teams were in action Friday night and all three came away with opening night wins. Adairsville and Woodland won back-and-forth battles with their opponents, while Cartersville blanked visiting Allatoona at Weinman Stadium. ADAIRSVILLE RALLIES FOR OPENING NIGHT WIN Adairsville senior quarterback Mason Boswell connected with junior slot Derrick Simmons for a 13-yard touchdown Friday night with 2:08 remaining in the game to set up Boswell’s game-winning two-point conversion run as the Tigers edged visiting Chattooga, 21-20. Adairsville head coach Eric Bishop made the decision to go for the win during a timeout — called by the Indians — following the Boswell to Simmons touchdown pass. The Tigers’ offense stayed on the sideline as the timeout ended and then sprinted to the ball as a group for the two-point conversion attempt. The two-point play was a direct snap to Boswell who found the end zone behind the right side of his line and lead blockers. The one point lead still had to be defended for two minutes and Chattooga threatened. A long pass from Indians’ quarterback Devin Price slipped through the hands of an open Clayton Johnson in their final possession. Johnson had somehow managed to get beyond the Tigers’ defense. A play later, Boswell picked off a pass to end Chattooga’s chances. Even that play ended in a fumble, but it was recovered by the Tigers who were able to run out the final seconds. Adairsville took the game’s first lead with 7:52 remaining in the first quarter. Boswell connected with Wade Conduff for a 37-yard touchdown pass to cap an 81-yard drive. Chris Rodriguez converted the extra point kick. Five minutes later, Malachi Mack finished off a 69-yard Chattooga drive with a one-yard plunge to tie the game, 7-7. The two teams went to the intermission knotted 7-7 after a scoreless second quarter. Chattooga took a 14-7 lead with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter. Lashaun Lester ran in the Indians’ score with a 12-yard dash. Adairsville answered just over four minutes later. Boswell capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive march with a five-yard touchdown run but the PAT was blocked and Chattooga retained a 14-13 lead. Chattooga went up 20-13 with 6:08 left in the game. E.J. Lackey scored on a 67-yard scamper, but this time the Indians missed the extra point. The Tigers responded with their game-winning drive that covered 69 yards on seven plays. Chatooga (0-1) will host Wesleyan next Friday night in Summerville. Adairsville (1-0) travels to Cass who was idle this week. CANES BLANK ALLATOONA Class 4A second-ranked Cartersville blasted Class 6A sixth-ranked Allatoona 35-0 Friday night at Weinman Stadium. Following a scoreless first quarter, Cartersville junior quarterback Tee Webb and senior running back Marcus Gary got the Hurricanes’ offense going. Webb finished 7-for-15 through the air for 150 yards and two touchdowns while Gary compiled 144 rushing yards and 94 receiving yards with two touchdowns. Webb connected with Trendon Horton for the Canes’ first touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter. He also tossed a screen pass to Gary who used some quality downfield blocking to score on a 50-yard play. Between those two plays, Gary scored on a 46-yard run and Marko Dudley rounded out the Canes’ 28-point second quarter by picking off an Allatoona pass the he returned 35-yards for a touchdown. Quante Jennings scored Cartersville’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard run and the 35-point lead forced the game into a running clock for the final minutes. Oscar Hernandez missed a short early field goal attempt for the Canes, but he responded by nailing all five PAT kicks. Allatoona (0-1) travels to Creekview next Friday. Cartersville (1-0) takes next week off and will host Luella August 31 at Weinman Stadium. WOODLAND OPENS WITH WIN AT SOUTHEAST WHITFIELD Woodland captured a season-opening road win Friday night in Dalton with a 31-22 victory at Southeast Whitfield. The game was delayed more than 90 minutes between the third and fourth quarters as lightning and a heavy downpour moved through the area while the scored was knotted at 15-15. Southeast was in possession at the Wildcats’ 36 yard line as the stadium was vacated for safety reasons. When play resumed the Raiders took a 22-15 lead on a Christian Gillespie 13-yard touchdown run, but Woodland responded with 16 unanswered points down the stretch for their nine-point opening night win. Justice Carter scored first for the Wildcats on a nine-yard run. Titus Jones connected with Austin Potter for a two-point conversion that gave Woodland an 8-0 lead. Quarterback Jakob Foss found Demarcus Williams for a 37-yard touchdown pass that put Woodland ahead 15-0. Southeast made the score 15-7 at halftime with a 14-yard Adam Sowder to Zac Cole touchdown pass. A 32-yard touchdown run by Gillespie and a two-point conversion by the Raiders tied the game 15-15 with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter. Justice Carter added his second touchdown run of the night on an 8-yarder. Jones ran in another two-point conversion for a 23-22 Wildcats’ lead with 8:24 remaining. Jones then picked off a Southeast pass and later scored on a one-yard run with 1:18 left in the game. His third two-point conversion of the night sealed the Wildcats’ 31-22 win. Southeast Whitfield (0-1) hosts Murray County next Friday in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. Woodland (1-0) has the week off before hosting East Hall on August 31.