The Dawson County High School varsity softball team saw its season come to an end with a 10-0 loss to Central, Carroll Friday afternoon in Columbus.

The Lady Tigers gave up five runs in both the first and fifth innings to take the loss in five innings.

Central, Carroll took advantage of three first inning errors by Dawson County and a huge two-run homerun to jump on the Lady Tigers early.

In the fourth, the Lady Lions used five hits and two walks to add five more runs and put the game out of reach.

Coach Jimmy Pruett's team managed only one base runner in the game, a fifth-inning walk to Tabitha Morrison.

"I'm extremely proud of our players ... I wish things would have ended differently, but we lost to a very talented Central team," Pruett said.

The tournament started out well for the Lady Tigers.

The team used the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 victory in the first game on Thursday against Pierce County.

Trailing 4-1 going into the bottom of the last inning, the team dug deep to pull out the victory.

Senior pitcher Joy Lewis led off the inning with a single up the middle. Sydney McGinnis followed with another single to put runners on first and second with no outs for first baseman Brooke Wende.

Wende followed suit and singled to load the bases.

With still no outs and bases loaded, junior catcher Katelynn Simpson singled up the middle to score Lewis and McGinnis, bringing the Lady Tigers to within one point, 4-3.

Sophomore shortstop Natalie Glass stepped to the plate and blasted an 0-2 pitch over the left fielder's head for a game-tying double.

Senior Anela Melton stepped to the plate with no outs, bases loaded and the winning run on third.

With an 0-2 count, Melton hit a hard grounder to the shortstop's left side. The grounder was fielded deep, allowing the runner from third to score and the Lady Tigers to take the win.

The next game saw the Lady Tigers square off with eventual state runners-up Ringgold.

The Lady Tigers bats were cold as Ringgold held the Lady Tigers scoreless through three innings, while scoring three runs of their own.

In the top of the fourth inning, Lewis got on base and was drove in by a double from Morrison.
The run was the only one the Lady Tigers could muster as they fell by an 11-1 score, which set up the team's game with Central, Carroll.

Five seniors finished their Lady Tigers' careers with the loss: Hannah McConnell, Emily Hunsucker, Joy Lewis, Samantha Keeney, Brooke Wende, Anela Melton and Savannah Haverkam.

"These seven seniors have been the backbone of our team this year," Pruett said. "I am surely going to miss them."

Coming back next year will be a strong nucleus that includes: Sydney McGinnis, Tabitha Morrison, Brittany Griggs, Heather Brady, Natalie Glass, Katelynn Simpson, Brandy Torres and Kaila Billingsley.

Dawson County finished the season with a 22-8-1 record.