Coffee County softball won its regular-season district finale in dramatic fashion Thursday night. Hosting Warren County, the Lady Raiders broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth and then did just enough to preserve a 2-1 victory over the Lady Pioneers.

The win gave Coffee County a regular-season sweep of its district rival, following a 3-2 win in McMinnville on April 7. It was also the team’s second straight victory following a four-game losing streak.

“It was a battle. Warren County’s got a good team, their pitcher’s really good, but I’m proud of the girls. We’d been on that little skid with the losses and got that win back (Wednesday),” Coffee County coach Brandon McWhorter said. “We just talked about no pressure, just kind of work it one inning at a time. Then Ella (Arnold) comes up with that huge hit in the fifth that jump started us. Once that happened, we felt good about ourselves.”

Coffee County got it going in the bottom of the fifth when Harlow Maychrzak took her base on a walk. Not long after, Ella Arnold came to the plate with two outs and Maychrzak still on first. Arnold proceeded to knock a line drive out to right field for a triple, bringing Maychrzak home to make it a

1-0 game. The Lady Raiders gave themselves some additional breathing room in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Haleigh Skipper reached home plate from third after a throw to first base on a fielder’s choice resulted in an error.

Warren County cut the Coffee County lead to one with a run in the top of the seventh on a Ruby Denning double. With the tying run on second, the next two Lady Pioneer at-bats resulted in a line out and a fly out to give the Lady Raiders the victory.

“I hope it motivates us and kind of propels us into next week,” McWhorter said of the win. “It locks us up as the No. 2 seed, so it guarantees us one home game. That’s what we want, we want to be able to play at home as much as we can, so that’s exciting.”

Coffee County finished the game with five hits, led by Arnold with two. Skipper, Cara Newlin and Kamryn Hoback each had one.

Arnold had the team’s lone RBI.

It was another dominant night for Lily Norman in the circle, who struck out 14 batters and held Warren County to five hits, one run and five walks on the way to a complete game.

With the win, Coffee County improved to 1615 overall and 5-3 within Class 4A District 6 play, second only to Lincoln County. The No. 2 seed Lady Raiders will begin the district tournament this week.

CHS holds on to beat Cascade

Coffee County came out on top in a close one Wednesday evening.

Hosting Cascade, the Lady Raiders trailed by a run after three innings but scored twice over the game’s remainder to secure a 2-1 win.

Newlin brought in three of the team’s eight hits. Arnold, Norman, Raelyn Wainwright, Yeidy Cruz and Madison Waller each had one hit.

Newlin and Norman each had one RBI for a team total of two.

Norman pitched the first four innings, coming out with five strikeouts, one hit, one run and three walks. Cruz followed to close it out, adding four strikeouts over the game’s remainder.

CHS comes up short against Tullahoma

A single run in the bottom of the seventh inning cost Coffee County in Tullahoma last Sunday.

Scoreless through the first six innings of the rivalry matchup, the Lady Cats walked it off on an RBI single with two outs to hand the Lady Raiders a 1-0 loss.

Newlin, Arnold and Skipper each had one hit for a team total of two.

Norman pitched a complete game, finishing with nine strikeouts, four hits, one run and four walks.

Coffee County falls to Summit, Liberty Creek Saturday

The Lady Raiders opened the weekend with a pair of games as part of their Coffee County Classic schedule last Saturday.

Coffee County fell in both contests, starting with an 11-6, five-inning loss to Summit before being held scoreless in a 9-0, four-and-a-half-inning loss to Liberty Creek.

Wainwright led the way at the plate against Summit with three of the team’s seven hits. Arnold followed with two. Hoback and Taylor Mc-Bride both had one hit each.

Wainwright also took the top spot in RBI with three of the team’s five, with Waller adding the remaining two.

Kaylee Buckley got it going in the circle, coming out after two innings with one hit. Skipper took her place, adding one strikeout, nine hits, 11 runs and one walk over the last three innings.

Arnold had the team’s lone hit against Liberty Creek.

Cruz stayed in the circle for the entire game, wrapping it up with four strikeouts, eight hits, nine runs and three walks.