By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The red-hot LaGrange Lady Grangers not only ran their winning streak to six games, but they enjoyed a breakthrough victory over a team they’ve struggled with over the years.

LaGrange beat Chapel Hill 9-5 on Tuesday afternoon to improve to 10-6 overall, and more importantly, 3-2 in Region 5-AAAA.

Before Tuesday’s game, Chapel Hill had been unbeaten against LaGrange since the teams joined the same region in 2016.

“Since we’ve been in this region, we’ve never beaten them,” said Gabby Heath, LaGrange’s head coach. “They’re the only ones we haven’t beaten.”

In the top of the first inning, Chapel Hill seemed intent on continuing its winning ways against LaGrange by scoring two runs to take the early lead.

LaGrange came right back and tied it with two runs in the bottom of the first, though, and it scored two more runs in each of the second and third innings.

Chapel Hill got as close as two with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning, but LaGrange held onto the lead the rest of the way.

Malone Aldridge did a lot of the damage for LaGrange with two hits and a walk, and she had four RBIs.

Holly Lynn had a double and two RBIs, and Camden Smith had three hits and a walk.

Kirsten Williams had a hit and an RBI, leadoff hitter Abby Vanhoose had a hit and a walk, Madison Dennis had a sacrifice fly, and Mariana Ceja walked.

While the Lady Grangers hit some balls on the nose, they also did a lot of damage on the base paths with their aggressiveness, which Heath appreciated.

“That’s really how we are built,” Heath said. “We put the ball in play, take advantage of mistakes on the bases, taking that next base when you can, and just being aggressive.”

Camden Smith pitched a complete game for LaGrange, giving up five runs on eight hits with 10 strikeouts and just one walk.

LaGrange was 0-2 in the region after a 4-3 home loss to Cedartown on Aug. 13, and it fell to East Coweta a few days later.

Since then, LaGrange has been rolling along nicely. LaGrange won three straight games in the GADC Leadoff Classic at East Coweta, and it has won three consecutive region games by a combined score of 28-5.

“The first couple of games, we weren’t as confident in our ability to compete at a high level,” Heath said. “Then they saw it happen (at the East Coweta tournament). They’ve been different since then.”

LaGrange doesn’t have any more games this week, and it returns to the field for a home game against Central-Carroll on Sept. 3.

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