By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

CARTERSVILLE – For the LaGrange Lady Grangers, the 2016 season ended with a road loss to Cartersville in the region tournament.

LaGrange traveled back up the interstate to face Cartersville again on Saturday, and it was a different result this time around.

The red-hot Lady Grangers swept the doubleheader to remain in first place in Region 5-AAAA as the regular season winds down.

LaGrange (14-6 overall) has won four straight games to improve to 7-2 in the region, with three region games remaining in the regular season.

The Lady Grangers fell to 3-2 in the region with a 2-1 home loss to Central-Carroll on Sept. 5, but they’ve done nothing but win since.

On Saturday, LaGrange won the opening game 3-1 before finishing the sweep with a 6-5 victory.

In the second game, Cartersville rallied from five runs down to pull even, but LaGrange won it with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Hannah Karcher reached on a wild pitch on a third strike leading off the inning, and Katelynn Mobley followed with a base hit.

Karcher was on third when a pitch got away from the catcher, and she raced home with the winning run, and LaGrange had the sweep.

That was part of a big game for Karcher, who had three hits, including a double, with four RBIs .

Madison Dennis had two hits, and Camden Smith had a hit and an RBI.

Shaq Sutton had a hit and two runs scored, and Destiny Fitzpatrick and Mobley each had hits.

Smith got the complete-game victory.

Smith gave up five hits, and only one of the five runs she allowed was earned.

In the first game, Smith was in control from the get-go.

The freshman pitcher threw a complete game, allowing five hits and one unearned run while striking out three.

The Lady Grangers scored three runs in the top of the first inning, and that’s all they needed.

Malone Aldridge had a hit and an RBI for LaGrange, Sutton had a double, and Abby Vanhoose and Dennis each had hits.