Junior Erica Pennington surrendered just four hits, but the Lady Bobcats capitalized on a Cawood error to score the game's only run in the third inning as they slipped past the visiting Trojanettes 1-0.
Bell County pitcher Tracy Laws also turned in an impressive performance on the mound, striking out seven and walking two as she fired a three-hitter.
Tiffany Oliver led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to left field. She stole second and moved to third two batters later on a ground out by Katie Dixon.
The next batter, Danita Centers, smacked a grounder to Cawood shortstop Courtney Lewis, who didn't make the play, allowing Oliver to cross the plate.
"The mistakes we made were on the simple plays. All of the tough, challenging plays, we made them. Our mistakes were on easy ground balls here and there," Cawood coach Jim Johnson said.
Pennington (4-5) escaped several other jams without incident, as the Lady Cats stranded 11 runners on base.
"We left a lot of runners on," Bell County coach Jeff Brock said. "We've got to find a way to come up with two or three more hits with runners in scoring position 1-0 is good enough today, but it's not going to be that often."
Pennington twice worked out of bases-loaded, one-out situations, inducing two grounders for force outs at the plate in the second inning and getting a popout and a ground out in the fifth.
"I told them this was the smartest defensive game they have played," Johnson said. "I know we had some errors, but (Bell) had the bases loaded two different times and we allowed nobody to score. A lot of that's Erica, and a lot of that's our defense also."
Laws kept the Trojanettes confused in the batter's box early in the game, collecting six strikeouts in the first three innings. The pitcher frequently caught Cawood hitters looking at good strikes and then got them swinging on high pitches for strike three.
"I think they were a little anxious, a little nervous. We weren't as disciplined as we were the other night (against Pineville)," Johnson said.
A questionable call at the plate cost Cawood a potential tying run in the fourth inning. Lewis opened the frame with a triple to left. She broke for the plate after a wild pitch by Laws, but Dixon chased the ball down and fired to the pitcher for the tag.
"When a girl slides into the tag, into the glove, and the glove hits her in the upper chest or head, that means her feet got there first," Johnson said. "That was a big play."
The Trojanettes had better success making contact in the later innings, but everything they hit seemed to be right at Bell County players.
"For the most part, I thought we hit decent," Johnson said. "We've done it a lot this year
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