Harris pitches no-hitter, Bartow Co. advances to state championship round
Adairsville High School rising junior, Loren Harris, tossed a five inning, no-hitter Sunday afternoon to lead the Bartow County Senior Little League softball team into the state championship round of the Georgia state tournament with an 11-1 victory over West Point Little League.
Harris struck out 10 batters and walked four to record the no hitter. She needed 97 pitches and threw first pitch strikes to 12 of the 19 batters she faced.
After Bartow took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, West Point got on the scoreboard with their only tally without benefit of a hit. A pair of walks and two groundouts led to the run.
Bartow County added three runs in each of the next two innings and two more in the fourth inning for the 11-1 final score.
RBI singles by Morgan Deboard and Sarah Fox, plus a passed ball accounted for Bartow’s three run first inning.
RBI singles by Sierrah Gani and DeBoard, plus an RBI double by Fox in the second inning pushed the Bartow County lead to 6-1.
In the third, Bartow added three more runs on RBI singles by Taylor Queen, Gani, and Deboard.
Bartow then took advantage of a pair of errors by West Point and an RBI single by Alexia Najarro to get on the scoreboard again in the fourth inning. Madison Harrison also drove in a run for the locals with a groundout as Bartow pushed their lead to an 11-1 advantage.
Deboard finished with three hits, three RBI, and scored twice to lead the Bartow offense. Gani also had three hits with two RBI and two runs scored.
Fox had two hits including a double and two RBI. Najarro added two hits with one RBI and scored twice. Queen drove in a run with one hit and also scored a run.
Along with her performance in the pitching circle, Harris added one hit. Hope Elrod and Makenzi McIntyre had one hit each and both scored a run. Havyn Isaac also scored a run for Bartow.
Bartow County stole six bases in the contest. Fox and Deboard snagged a pair. Gani and Najarro had the other stolen bases.
West Point falls into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament and Bartow moves into the championship round.
West Point will play Northern of Columbus in an elimination game Monday night at 6pm. The winner will advance to a rematch with Bartow County on Tuesday at 6pm. If needed, a second title game will be played at 8pm Tuesday.
Northern eliminated Madison County Sunday evening 13-8.
The West Point/Northern-Columbus survivor will need two wins over Bartow County Tuesday night to win the state title. Bartow only needs one win Tuesday to secure the state championship.
The Georgia Senior Little League champion will advance to the Senior Little League Southeast Regional Tournament July 22-24 in Salisbury, NC to compete with the state champions from Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
