SAND ROCK – In their two previous softball meetings this season, a total of five runs have separated the Cherokee County Lady Warriors and Sand Rock Lady Wildcats. Neither Cherokee County coach Brad Weaver nor Sand Rock coach Josh Bates expected anything different on Tuesday.

Just like their previous two meetings – particularly their first – Tuesday’s game come down to moving runners, and the Lady Warriors did that just a little better than Sand Rock in a 7-5 decision in eight innings.

Ironically, Tuesday’s game was almost the same scenario as the two teams’ first meeting in their first game of the season on March 1. The Lady Warriors also won that one 8-6.

Alana Loyd led off the top of the eighth with an infield single on Lady Wildcat pitcher Jadyn Foster. Loyd advanced to third on a double by Grayson Tucker, then came home on Reachel Russell’s grounder to short to give the Lady Warriors a 6-5 advantage.

But Cherokee County didn’t stop there. The Lady Warriors added an insurance run on Karlee Perry’s pop fly to right.

Loyd struck out the side in the bottom half of the eighth for the final.

“That’s one thing we’ve preached on. Adversity is going to happen. How are you going to respond?” Weaver said. “Today, they jumped out on us 4-2 and we responded well. We put the ball in play and ran it out. We had a lot of small ball, and sometimes that’s what it takes to win.”

Bates joked just for once he’d like to “come out on the other side” of a close game with the Lady Warriors.

“It’s been a battle every time we’ve played them. I didn’t expect it to be anything but a battle today,” he said. “I thought our kids kept trying to chip away at it, but hat’s off to them. They battled and we battled. That’s the kind of games you want this time of year.

“You’ve got to hit with runners in scoring position. You’ve got to move people, and they did a good job there in the eighth to get them moved and score the runs. We didn’t do a good job throughout the game helping ourselves when we had runners in scoring position.”

The Lady Warriors (13-9) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on two unearned runs against Sand Rock starting pitcher EllaGrace Hood, but the Lady Wildcats battled back for four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

With the bases loaded and one out against Lady Warrior starter Abby Lea, nine-hole hitter Sherina Foster doubled to left to score two runs. Jadyn Foster later added a two-run single to center to put Sand Rock on top 4-2.

Cherokee County regained the lead at 5-4 with three runs in the top of the fourth. The big hits of the inning were Karlee Perry’s run-scoring triple to center and Carson Coley’s single to right that scored Perry.

But Sand Rock battled back again, this time with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on a solo home run to left by Maggie Tinsley.

“That was a big hit,” Bates said. “I was hoping that would spark us enough to get it there in the seventh, but we just couldn’t find a hit there.”

Tinsley, Sammi Parker and Jadyn Foster each had a pair of hits to lead the Lady Wildcats (16-13-1). Jadyn Foster suffered the tough-luck loss after working three innings in relief of Hood. She gave up two earned runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Loyd and Perry had a pair of hits apiece to lead the Lady Warriors. Loyd also worked five innings in relief of Lea and scattered an earned run on four hits with a walk and 12 strikeouts.

“I think we’re starting to click a little bit better now,” Weaver said. “We’re on the verge of being a really good team.”