SUMMERTOWN, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (3-5, 0-3) mounted a late rally at District 9-AA foe Summertown (13-4, 3-0) but came up just one run short, 7-6, after leaving the bases loaded in the top of the seventh on Tuesday.

Jocelyn Laughlin got the start in the circle for Cascade, pitching the full 6.0 innings and giving up seven runs – four earned – on eight hits and one walk with two strikeouts on 87 pitches. As a team, Cascade committed five errors while the Lady Eagles committed four themselves.

Olivia Woods started for Summertown, putting up 4.2 innings of work before being pulled. Woods gave up four runs – two earned – on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts on 72 pitches. Mary Parson came on in relief, getting through the final 2.1 innings while posting two unearned runs on three hits and one walk with a strikeout on 39 pitches.

The Lady Champions got the scoring started early by taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Summertown responded with two runs in the home half to take a 2-1 advantage.

Neither team scored in the second inning, and then the Lady Eagles plated one run in the bottom of the third to take a 3-1 lead. Cascade got that run back in the top of the fourth, but then Summertown scored two more in the home half to take a 5-2 lead.

Not to be deterred, the Lady Champions continued to battle at the plate, trimming the Lady Eagles’ lead to just a single run, 5-4, after a MaKayla Fisher two-strike, 2-RBI home run to left field.

Summertown didn’t score in the fifth, but after Parson put up a zero in the sixth, the hosts managed to plate two crucial insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 7-4 lead heading into the seventh.

However, the Lady Champions once again fought back, loading the bases and plating two runs to bring up Alayna Cruse with two outs. Unfortunately for the visitors, Cruse’s fly ball came up just short of the wall and nestled softly into the glove of Emily Abbott to seal the win for the Lady Eagles.

At the plate, Cascade tallied eight hits as a team. MaKayla Fisher went 1-for-4 with two RBIs on her homer in the leadoff spot, Momo Bilbro was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and Jocelyn Laughlin finished 0-for-1 with three walks. MaKenzie Fisher went 2-for-4 with a double, Shalan Burt was 1-for-4, Caroline Parker went 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Leah Tapp finished 1-for-3.

Cascade travels to district foe, Chapel Hill, on Friday night at 5:30 p.m.