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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The LaGrange Academy Lady Warriors shrugged off a late deficit to beat visiting Terrell Academy 5-4 on Monday afternoon in a GISA showdown.

Trailing 4-3, LaGrange Academy tied it with a run in the sixth inning, and it pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh to win it and improve to 4-1.

With two outs and a runner on third, Kelsey Cotton legged out an infield single to bring Lanie Lackey home with the winning run.

Lackey got the seventh inning started with a walk, and she moved to third on Natalee Waddell’s double, and the Lady Warriors had runners on second and third with no outs.

The next two batters went down on strikes, so Terrell Academy was one out away from getting out of the jam.

Cotton was facing a two-strike count when she hit the ball hard to the left side of the infield, and she hustled down the line and was called safe by the umpire, giving LaGrange Academy the hard-earned win.

Early on, it looked like LaGrange Academy wasn’t going to have any trouble putting runs on the scoreboard.

After Terrell Academy scored one run in the top of the first, LaGrange Academy answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Carolyn Lehman had an RBI double, Lackey knocked in a run with a base hit, and Cotton walked with the bases loaded to bring in another run.

Lexi Franklin, the ninth batter of the inning, hit the ball on the nose, but it was caught in the outfield for the third out.

“The first inning, we knocked the cover off of it and scored three runs, and then couldn’t do nothing else,” said LaGrange Academy coach Charles Parker.

Terrell Academy took the lead with three runs in the top of the third inning to go up 4-3, and that’s the way it remained until the sixth inning when LaGrange Academy tied it.

Cotton led off with a double, and she scored the tying run on a Kayla McBride base hit.

Cotton finished with two hits and two RBIs for LaGrange Academy, Lehman and Lackey each had two hits and an RBI, Waddell had two hits, McBride had a hit and an RBI, and Amber Corley, McKenzie Jones  and Morgan Bartlett each had a hit.

Corley was the winning pitcher in relief of Lackey, and she threw four scoreless innings while giving up just one hit.

LaGrange Academy will host Flint River Academy on Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s GISA Class A state-championship series.

LaGrange Academy won the series in two games to earn the program’s sixth state championship.