The Lawrence County Lady Cougars claimed two wins Saturday in slowpitch softball action in the Puckett Classic. First, Meleah Howard’s girls hammered Richland 12-0 in five innings. After that, the Lady Cougars clawed out a 3-1 nail-biter against the Raleigh Lions.

“We had a good day,” Howard said. “We defended really well today, but we’ve still got to work at becoming better slow-pitch hitters. We swung the bats pretty well against Richland, but had a lot of very soft outs against Raleigh. Still, Raleigh is a good team, and that was a very good win.”

Against Richland, which will be one of Lawrence County’s division foes in spring fastpitch action, the Lady Cougars exploded for nine runs in the top of the second. Left-fielder Maddux Kirkland and pitcher Barri Rogers hit back-to-back homeruns in the huge frame.

For the game, Kirkland, Josey Nations, Emalee Gaffney and Amanda Rushing each had two hits. Rogers, Sydney Pevey, Jordan Harp, Raylee Ready, Alyssa Lambert and Callie Fortenberry each had one hit.

Richland got just one hit in the game, a fifth-inning single. No Lady Ranger made it past second base. LCHS pitchers Barri Rogers and Julianna Johnson were backed up by solid defense.

Most of the day’s drama came in the second game. In the top of the third, Lawrence County grabbed a 1-0 lead as a Rogers single drove home Tyranesha Davis. It remained 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth, when Raleigh pushed across the tying run.

In the top of the seventh, Davis led off with a base on balls. After two outs were recorded on pop flies, Rogers plated Davis with a double to deep right field. Raylee Ready completed the rally with an RBI single, giving the Lady Cougars a 3-1 lead. Consecutive two out singles gave Raleigh a chance in the bottom of the seventh, but a fly ball to left-center fielder Callie Fortenberry ended the game.

“Barri had a great game,” Howard said. “Not only did she have three hits, including the big hit, she also pitched a great game. Raleigh has a fine team, but Barri helped her defense by putting the ball right where we wanted it. Our outfield defense was really good.”

Rogers’ three hits led the way. Jordan Harp and Josey Nations each had two hits. Davis, Gaffney, Rushing, Fortenberry and Zyon Feazell also had hits.

Lawrence County will host the Ole Brook Lady Panthers on Tuesday night. Junior varsity action starts at 5 p.m., with varsity action shortly thereafter.