MARIETTA - Brooke Butler wasn't at her best Thursday night, but the Lassiter pitcher was good enough to beat Sprayberry, 5-0, in a non-region battle of longtime east Cobb rivals.

Butler gave up five hits and struck out eight over six innings for the victory. Chelsea Whittle entered in the seventh inning, allowing just one baserunner to close out the game.

"With this (rainy) weather, (Butler) hasn't thrown in a while, but she battled out there," Lassiter coach Scott Kelly said. "She didn't have her best stuff, but the defense helped her out. I'm pleased. We just have to play and keep staying positive and see what happens.

Sprayberry coach Jen Young said her players suffered from uncharacteristic problems at the plate.

"We had a little bit of difficulty adjusting (Thursday)," she said. "We just had difficulty adjusting to (Butler's) style."

Lassiter (4-2) broke onto the scoreboard in the first.

Rachael Orlandella and Hillary Lynch led the host Lady Trojans' half of the inning with back-to-back singles off Sprayberry starter Shelby Haughey. Both players advanced a base on a passed ball, setting up Lassiter's first run of the game as Orlandella scored on a second passed ball during Brandi Donaldson's at-bat.

Donaldson's plate appearance produced a second run when her groundout to third allowed Lynch to score from third. After issuing a walk to Whittle, Haughey worked out of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play.

Neither team put a runner in scoring position again until Sprayberry (1-2) threatened in the top of the fourth. With one out, Jenna Barnett and Kristian LaFasso came through with consecutive singles through the left side. Haughey was then walked to load the bases.

But Butler kept her head in the game and struck Lindsay Henson out before inducing a grounder to third by Nicole Gentile, ending the threat.

Lassiter responded with a little action of its own with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Erin Leonard singled to left and advanced to second on a throwing error before Morgan Fite singled to move Leonard to third. Jordan Adams' RBI single then plated Leonard before a double steal by Fite and Adams once more gave Lassiter two runners in scoring position. Fite scored on a passed ball during Shelby Sinclair's at-bat to give her team a 4-0 lead after four innings.

If Lassiter need any more insurance, it got it in the fifth inning when Lynch drew a one-out walk and quickly made it pay off. She moved to second on a single by Donaldson and stole third before scoring on a passed ball.

In many ways, Sprayberry didn't make its biggest play of the game until the bottom of the sixth after Fite led off with a double for Lassiter. Adams hit a blooper to right-center that seemed to be destined to drop in for a hit until LaFasso made a diving catch to rob the Lady Trojans of a run. LaFasso then threw a strike to second base to double up Fite.

Young said she has seen improvement in her players since the season started, but signs of it were not evident Thursday against Lassiter.

"We had some solid hits (Thursday), but since our problem with that was atypical, you can't really say that was an improvement," Young said. "I have seen improvements over the season, but I don't know that they were able to be expressed through this game."

But Young did admire the catch made by LaFasso, her center fielder.

"That was a pretty amazing catch," she said. "She definitely hustled and took a dive to make sure that ball stayed in the glove instead of on the ground. That was great hustle."

Kelly expected the ball to be caught and didn't question giving the go-ahead for his runner, Fite, home.

"I didn't think there was any way the center fielder could catch that ball," he said. "I was watching right field and didn't think she would ever get to it, so I was just telling my runner to go on. Next thing I know, (LaFasso) came up with it. Hats off to them. She made a great play and got us out."

Haughey took the loss for Sprayberry, giving up six hits and walking four in the complete-game outing, but only one of the five runs she allowed was earned.

In the upcoming week, Kelly said that Lassiter will have to be at its best as it plays five games in the next 10 days, with its Region 6AAAAA opener against Campbell coming Tuesday.

"We are in good shape," he said. "I think (our pitchers) are ready. That's all we can do - get them ready and give them a chance to compete and see how it goes."

Sprayberry will host Rome in a Region 7AAAA crossover game Tuesday.