MONTICELLO – The Lawrence County High Lady Cougars carried the day Saturday, in slow-pitch softball action at the Lady Cougar Classic. Meleah Howard’s girls stayed red-hot, improving to 20-2 on the season, as they hammered West Lincoln 17-5 in four innings and overwhelmed Franklin County 21-1 in just three innings.

“We had a good day,” said Howard. “We’re swinging the bats really well right now. It was a good day here at our facility. We were honored to have all these players and coaches and visiting fans here at our place.”

Local teams Bogue Chitto and West Lincoln also had good days. The Lady Bobcats won both of their games, beating Raleigh 6-2 and handling Franklin County by a 9-1 score. West Lincoln rebounded from its early loss to Lawrence County to beat Mendenhall by a 13-2 score, and Raleigh by an 8-4 margin. The lone other game of the day saw Mendenhall outslug Franklin County 14-11.

Three weeks earlier, Lawrence County edged West Lincoln 4-0 in a game that was wholly dominated by defense with very little hitting. Saturday’s first game was different. West Lincoln scored two in the top of the first to grab a 2-0 lead. LCHS responded with three.

After the Lady Bears tied it with a single run in the top of the second, Lawrence County got four runs in the bottom of the inning, three of them coming on a Jordan Harp home run. West Lincoln got two in the third on a Megan Gerald homerun, but LCHS took control with five runs in the bottom of the inning, the biggest blow being Abbie Errington’s two-run double. The Lady Cougars ended the game with two more in the bottom of the fourth. Barri Rogers hit a home run, and Josey Nations ended the action with an RBI double.

Nations led Lawrence County with three hits. Errington, Rogers, Harp, Callie Fortenberry and Zyon Feazell each had two hits. Maddux Kirkland, Sydney Pevey and Tyranesha Davis each had one hit.

Megan Gerald’s two hits led the Lady Bears. Millane Lewis, Layton Sills, Makenna Redd and Hanna Moak also hit safely.

Lawrence County’s offensive onslaught continued in the Franklin County game. The Lady Cougars scored 13 in the bottom of the first and eight more in the second, banging out an amazing 22 hits in just two innings of batting. The game was halted after Franklin County batted in the top of the third.

Zyon Feazell led the way with three hits. Josey Nations, Jordan Harp, Maddux Kirkland, Amanda Rushing, Julianna Johnson and Abbie Errington each had two hits. Feazell, Kirkland and Nations all slammed homeruns.

Also getting hits for LCHS were Tyranesha Davis, Alyssa Lambert, Emalee Gaffney, Sydney Pevey, Barri Rogers and Callie Fortenberry. Rogers was the winning pitcher in both Lawrence County victories.

Kelly Hunt, Timara Mackey and Tabitha Thompson each had hits for Franklin County.

Lawrence County will host Ridgeland on Tuesday.