Adairsville, Woodland, Cass each suffer Thursday night losses

Adairsville lost a Region 6-AAA matchup with Sonoraville Thursday night while Woodland and Cass both dropped their first games in the Battle for Bartow at LakePoint.

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SONORAVILLE 9, ADAIRSVILLE 1

Sonoraville pulled away early with eight runs in the first three innings to defeat Adairsville 9-1 Thursday night in Region 6-AAA action.

The Tigers scored a single run in the fourth inning when Chris Roper singled, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on a Logan Hunt RBI single into right field.

Adairsville starting pitcher Jack Whitley (2 IP, 7R, 2ER, 4H, 1BB, 1K) was tagged with the loss. Three other pitchers — Brenden Carroll (1 IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 1K), Dawson Craig (1.1 IP, 0R, 0H, 3BB, 1K), and Easton Elrod (1.2 IP, 1ER, 2H, 1K) also pitched.

Hunt finished with two hits. Kyler Smith, Evan Sanders, Dawson Craig, and Roper had the other Tigers’ hits.

Cole Godfrey, Hayden Holsomback, and Zach Lyles combined for five hits and seven RBIs for the Phoenix offense.

Lyles was also the winning pitcher, allowing one earned run on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings of work.

Sonoraville (13-8, 7-4) plays at Adairsville (7-12, 2-6) Friday at 5:55 p.m.

VALDOSTA 5, WOODLAND 3

In a battle of two teams called Wildcats, Valdosta held off a seventh inning Woodland threat to win Thursday night at LakePoint, 5-3.

The two teams squared off in one of 14 games being played as part of the Battle for Bartow Classic. Valdosta also defeated Johns Creek earlier in the day at LakePoint, 5-2.

Woodland took advantage of a pair of Valdosta errors in the second inning to grab a 2-0 lead and starting pitcher Peyton Posey made that lead stand up until he ran into trouble in the top of the fifth. Valdosta tied the score 2-2 on a single, two walks, and a two-run double.

Valdosta took the lead for good in the sixth by adding three runs on two hits, a hit batsman, a walk, and an infield error.

Woodland’s Scotty Smith doubled to drive in a run in the bottom of the sixth, but the locals would get no closer although they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

Carter Heath (3 IP, 3R, 1ER, 2H, 1BB, 6K) suffered the pitching loss for Woodland in relief of Posey (4 IP, 2ER, 4H, 4BB, 6K).

In addition to Smith’s RBI double, Jakiyon Porter and Chase Carson added one hit apiece for Woodland.

Valdosta improved to 15-9 for the season.

Woodland (8-15) plays two more games in the Battle for Bartow on Friday. The Wildcats play Cedartown at 4 p.m. and Fellowship Christian, the No. 3 team in Class A Private at 7 p.m.

NORTH PAULDING 15, CASS 0

North Paulding, the No. 4-ranked team in Class 7A, scored nine times in the top of the first inning and Wolfpack pitchers Jake Hembree and A.J. Ventry combined for a four-inning no-hitter Thursday night to shutout Cass, 15-0.

North Paulding pounded out 15 hits in four offensive frames and improved to 15-7 on the season.

Cass (6-14) concludes play in the Battle for Bartow Friday at 1 p.m. when the Colonels take on Cedartown.