Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN Man junior Morgan Cooper tossed a one-hitter but the Lady Hillbillies were unable to overcome three miscues in the field as Sherman defeated Man 2-0 in the Class A Region 4 Section 1 softball tournament at Man High School.
Cooper struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced, retired the first 10 hitters, and didn’t allow a hit until a leadoff single off the bat of Bailey Lafferty to start the seventh inning.
Cooper finished with 15 strikeouts and allowed two unearned runs on one hit in seven innings.
Chloe Treadway struck out nine and scattered five hits over seven innings to earn the win in the circle for Sherman.
Man, who was unbeaten in tournament play, had a chance to wrap up its second consecutive sectional championship with a victory.
The victory by the Lady Tide sets up a winner take all contest Wednesday at Sherman.
Sherman scored a run in the fourth and a run in the seventh on a pair of Lady Hillbillies errors as Hailea Skeens scored in the fourth and Lafferty came across in the seventh.
Man had its chances to tie or take the lead but was unable to come away with a hit to get the job done.
Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, Man got back-to-back singles from Olivia Ramsey and Baylee Muncy with two outs, but Treadway got Kaylee Hicks to strike out swinging to end the threat.
With one out in the sixth inning, McKinlee Cline singled and Ashlee Tomblin followed with a double to give the Lady Hillbillies runners on second and third; however, Treadway got Jacklyn Barnett to ground out and Kirsten Ellis to strike out swinging for the third out.
Tomblin had a double for Man while Cline, Trista Marcum, Muncy and Ramsey each had singles for the Lady Hillbillies.
Sherman improves to 17-8 with the victory while Man falls to 12-4 with the loss.