By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

After coming up short in their first two region games, the LaGrange Lady Grangers were hoping for a breakout performance on Tuesday evening against rival Troup.

Mission accomplished.

With Camden Smith not only throwing a no-hitter but also hitting a grand slam, LaGrange cruised to an 11-0 victory in a game shortened to six innings because of the run rule.

LaGrange (8-6 overall), which was coming off a 3-1 showing in a tournament at East Coweta over the weekend, improved its Region 5-AAAA record to 1-2 heading into Thursday’s home game against Sandy Creek.

Since losing four in a row, including a 4-3 region loss to Cedartown, LaGrange has ripped off four straight wins.

“We had a lot of success with our mental focus,” LaGrange head coach Gabby Heath said. “I think they did an awesome job this weekend, and today.”

For Troup, it was one of those days.

Troup was coming off a dramatic 12-11 win over Cartersville on Saturday, but that momentum didn’t carry over to Tuesday’s game.

Troup (6-6 overall) is 2-3 in the region heading into Thursday’s home game with Cedartown.

“We’ll put it behind us, and we’ve got another region game on Thursday,” Troup coach Kayla Yeargin said. “We have to make adjustments that we didn’t make tonight.”

Tuesday’s game was scoreless until the Lady Grangers plated three runs in the top of the third, and they didn’t look back.

LaGrange capped the scoring with a five-run sixth inning that was highlighted by Smith’s grand slam that collided with the foul pole in left field.

Smith, who went 2-0 with two complete games over the weekend at East Coweta, felt those competitive games helped give LaGrange momentum heading into the key game against Troup.

After losing to East Coweta on Friday, LaGrange beat Cairo, Decatur and Tattnall Square Academy.

“We played a lot of difficult teams,” Smith said. “I think it got in our heads that if we could beat them, we could beat anybody.”

Smith certainly did her part on Tuesday.

The junior was untouchable on the mound, throwing the six-inning no-hitter while striking out nine, and she also excelled at the plate with two hits and five RBIs.

It was Smith’s grand slam that put an exclamation point on the one-sided win.

After Jacee Marable was walked to load the bases in the sixth inning, Smith drove the first pitch she saw over the left-field fence.

“That was my spot,” Smith said of the high fastball.

LaGrange banged out 14 hits, and six different players had multi-hit games.

Abby Vanhoose, Madison Dennis and Malone Aldridge each had two hits and an RBI, and Macee Stone and Marable each had two hits. Holly Lynn had a hit and an RBI, and Kirsten Williams had a single.