After winning six of seven on a week-long road trip, the Harlan County Lady Bears were unable to bring that success home on Monday. Despite limiting the 14th region contender to one hit, the Lady Bears fell 3-1 to the visiting Lady Cavalers.
Jenkins opened the scoring with one run in the first inning, and added two more in the fifth. Harlan County scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Mallory Johnson reached base on a single. Kaitlyn Stittums advanced on a walk. Katie Johnson then drove in the run with a single to right field.
Harlan County had an opportunity to tie the game in the seventh inning. Stittums and Katie Johnson were both in scoring position in the bottom of the inning, but the Lady Bears were unable to bring the runners home.
Harlan County pounded out 10 hits at the plate. Stittums, Katie Johnson, Mallory Johnson and Bridget Robinson each had two singles to lead the offense. Farren Clark delivered a double, while Jessie Johnson added a single.
“I have preached all spring that good hitters aren’t shy,” said Harlan County coach Tim McElyea. “We are starting to get more aggressive at the plate.”
Katie Johnson limited the Lady Cavs to just one hit in the complete-game effort. The senior struck out three batters, while issuing eight walks in the contest.
“We had eight walks and two errors. That is 10 extra base-runners. You can’t survive like that against teams like Jenkins,” McElyea said.
Harlan County (10-9) returns to action Thursday at home against Bell County in a 52nd District contest. The Lady Cats knocked of Harlan County 4-3 on April 15.
“We let one slip away down there,” McElyea said. “It is a big district game. We have to win that one.”
Jenkins (19-4) will travel to Central (Wise), Va., today.
— — —
Jenkins 010 020 0 — 3 1 0
Harlan Co. 000 010 0 — 1 10 2
Estevez and Niece; K. Johnson and Robinson. WP — Estevez. LP — K. Johnson.















