By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Sept. 3, 2004
What do you do?
Your team is down by one run in the bottom of the last inning with runners on first and second and one out. Do you just try to drop a base hit in somewhere or do you crank the ball as far as you can?
For West Lauderdale's Kayla Eubanks, the answer to the question was an easy one.
Well, she got it.
The left-handed hitting Eubanks lined the ball over the Newton County High School right-fielder to drive in two runs and give homestanding WL the 6-5 slow-pitch win in dramatic fashion at the Richard May Complex on Thursday night.
No. 3-ranked West Lauderdale, now 9-0 overall and 6-0 in Division 5-3A play, trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, but the Lady Knights took advantage of four Newton County errors over the last two innings to post the comeback win.
Newton County, now 5-6 overall and 3-2 in division play, scored two runs in the top of the first and three more in the sixth to go up 5-1.
But West Lauderdale answered the Lady Cougars' big sixth inning, with three runs of its on.
The three-run WL sixth began with a one-out single by Eubanks, who went 3-for-4 on the night. An infield error and a line out to short put runners on first and second with two outs.
Sommer Jones drove in one run with a single, then a misplay on what looked like a routine fly out allowed another run to score. Ashley Helms then drove in the third run of the inning.
West Lauderdale opened the bottom of the seventh with what looked like a routine fly out, but the ball was dropped, allowing Kristi Lantz to reach first.
After a force out at second on a ground ball, Holly Herrington's hot grounder was botched, putting runners on first and second. That's when Eubanks strode to the plate.
Bettina McDougle and Joni Seale had RBI singles for Newton County in the first inning, while Lorna Blackburn and McDougle had RBIs in the three-run sixth.
West Lauderdale travels to Clarkdale for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday to take on the No. 1-ranked Lady Bulldogs.
Newton County visits league foe Choctaw Central on Tuesday and hosts Southeast Lauderdale on Thursday.
Chassidy Smith led Newton County's 14-hit attack with three singles, while Kasie Buckley, Blackburn and McDougle had two hits each.
Eubanks led WL with three hits, while Jones had a triple and single and Helms had two singles. WL had nine hits on the night.