MONTICELLO – The Lawrence County Lady Cougars stayed red-hot on Tuesday, hammering 3A Raleigh 10-0, in five innings in slow pitch softball action.

With the win, Meleah Howard’s girls improved to 20-2-1 on the season. The Lady Cougars won the Division 7-4A championship, and will host Poplarville in 4A playoff action next Tuesday night. Tonight, LCHS will travel to West Lincoln in the final regular season game for both teams.

Against Raleigh, the Lady Cougars exploded for seven first-inning runs, and the game was never in doubt. The highlight of the inning was Jamie Martin’s mammoth three-run homer over the 12-foot tall black wall in center field. It was the Lady Cougars’ first homerun at their home field this season, and only the second overall. Martin’s blast landed at least 30 feet beyond the wall.

“Jamie got all of that one,” Coach Meleah Howard said. “We haven’t hit a ball like that all season. We played a good game against a very decent team tonight. This has been a great regular season. We’d love to keep it going in the playoffs.”

Lawrence County added three more runs in the bottom of the second, then played solid defense to keep Raleigh scoreless. The game ended early via the 10-run rule.

Martin and Cierra Horton each had two hits for the Lady Cougars. Alyssa Pendergrass, Madison Hyde, Alexsundria Thomas, Lexie Johnson, Callie Fortenberry, and pitcher Barri Rogers also had hits.

Raleigh had 5 hits in the game. Only two Raleigh base runners got as far as second base.