Clear Creek Clears Rebels’ Hurdle

The Clear Creek Middle School Lady Bobcats softball team traveled to Fannin County to take on the Lady Rebels, winning 13-4 over the home team.The first inning began for the Lady Bobcats with less than stellar results as Gilmer’s first three batters failed to reach first. However, the Gilmer defense led by pitcher, Chancey Davis, also retired the Fannin batters three up three down to close the inning.

Kaylee Deyton led off in the second with a walk, then proceeded to steal second base, immediately followed a walk and steal by Davis. Beverly Warfield’s bunt loaded the bases. Bailey Wimpie’s strike out gave Gilmer its first out of the inning. Macy Dotson was robbed of an RBI single, when Deyton was thrown out at home. Selena Kilborn’s ground out to the pitcher ended Gilmer’s second inning scoring threat. Davis allowed only one Fannin batter to reach base, via walk, in the bottom of the second. However, she was promptly thrown out stealing second.

The Lady Bobcats’ opened the third inning with a stand up triple from Emily Cantrell. Mackenzie Chamber’s RBI single gave Gilmer a 1-0 lead. Chambers later scored to give the Lady Bobcats a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the third. Fannin was unable to muster a score because of two opening ground outs and a strike out.

Following a failed bunt attempt in the top of the fourth, Wimpie drew a walk. Macy Dotson followed Wimpie’s walk with a single. Wimpie was thrown out in a run down. Dotson followed Wimpie’s run down with a stealing of second base, but was later caught in her own run down to bring up the bottom of the inning up.

In the bottom of the fourth, Fannin found its offense. K. Seagle led off with a walk and immediately stole second base. L. Walden was awarded first base due to an illegal pitch A. Rhodes RBI single to left field cut the lead to one. Fannin’s first out was recorded via infield fly rule. Following a walk, K. De Grie’s RBI tied the game at 2-2. Gilmer closed the inning by forcing a pop up to first.

Following a scoreless top half of the fifth inning , Fannin took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI from Rhodes. However, the Lady Bobcats stopped the bleeding at one run.

The Lady Bobcats bats came alive in the top of the sixth. Following a walk, Fannin made a pitching change. A Gilmer steal put a runner in scoring position, and Deyton’s RBI single tied the game at 3-3. Davis followed a steal by Deyton, with a double that put runners on second and third. Beverly Warfield’s RBI bunt made the score 4-3 in Gilmer’s favor. Following a Wimpie walk, Gilmer scored twice more via RBIs, to take a three run 6-3 lead. Fannin brought in a different pitcher, however the Lady Bobcats scratched out three more runs before Warfield’s fly out ended the inning’s offensive onslaught.

The Lady Rebels were retired in three straight batters to bring the sixth inning to a close. Wimpie walked again to lead off the seventh inning, then stole second. Following a walk and strike out, Emily Cantrell’s RBI double scored two more runs and the Gilmer lead stood at 11-3. Cantrell made the score 12-3 when she scored on a base clearing triple. Cantrell scored the Lady Bobcat’s last run.

Fannin found one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but was unable to stage a full fledged comeback and the Lady Bobcats secured the 13-4 win.

Information provided by Shane Dale