COLUMBUS - With one tight win and one solid one, Lassiter stayed in the winner's bracket of the Class AAAAA Fast-Pitch Softball State Championships, holding off Lowndes, 4-3, before beating Tift County, 4-2, at the South Commons Softball Complex.

The Lady Trojans kept it interesting however, containing Lowndes after it came within one run with the tying runner on second in the bottom of the seventh and overcoming a double play in the sixth while leading the Blue Devils by a single run.

"Shoot, it's all about the kids," Lassiter coach Scott Kelly said. "The (Tift County game), I about screwed it up thinking there was one out. We hit a sacrifice fly and I am telling the girl to run with two outs and we get doubled up off of third. (The girls) picked me up there, they helped me out."

Lassiter pitcher Jessica Cannon logged 10 strikeouts on the day as leads were few and far between.

"It's what she has done all year," Kelly said of Cannon's performance. "She has been great. It's one of these things where we keep giving her the ball and she keeps doing what she needs to to win."

After leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Lassiter fell behind when Lowndes' Sadee Scarborough scored Kristin Broadway on a blooper to make it 1-0. Scarborough then tried to steal second, letting Brittany Corbitt score from third while Scarborough was caught in a rundown. Before Lassiter got the tag, it was down 2-0

The Lady Trojans cut the lead the next inning, when Nicole Wischmeyer walked and Caitlin Peisel belted a triple to cut the Lady Vikings' lead to 2-1.

The bats were held silent until the fifth, when Lassiter loaded the bases with walks from Hillary Lynch and Jessica Sinclair and a single from Kelli Wheeler. Brandi Donaldson's blooper scored Lynch and Annie Soltis' hit to shallow left brought home Sinclair and Donaldson for a 4-2 lead.

Lassiter looked to be in the driver's seat until Dionne Bishop led off the top of the seventh with a solo homer to cut the Lady Trojans' lead to one. A Lauren Revels single and a Morgan Harris walk put the tying run on second, where Cannon forced a fly out and ground out to close the game.

Facing Tift County, the Lady Trojans fell behind in the third when Kelly Dill's single scored Kelly Redlinger to make it 1-0.

Lassiter tied it in the top of the fourth off a single from Donaldson to score Wheeler, who reached on a double. The Lady Blue Devils retook the lead in the fifth with Tionne Barnes tagging from third off a sacrifice fly from Rebecca Johnson to make it 2-1. Barnes was courtesy running for catcher Krysten Mangham after her double.

The Lady Trojans roared back into it the next inning with three straight singles from Wheeler, Sinclair and Donaldson to load the bases. Wheeler scored on a wild pitch and Sinclair came home off a single from Soltis to make it 3-2.

Lassiter overcame a double play off a fly out the same inning where Lindsay Wesseling was tagged at third to score another run later in the top of the seventh. Peisel singled, stole second and scored off a Wheeler single to center, making it 4-2.

Lassiter will face Mill Creek this afternoon at 5 p.m., two wins away from its first state title and Cobb County's first since Kell won its second of back-to-back crowns in 2004.

"We are going to go (back to the hotel), get some sleep and come back (today)."

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