Sports Writer

Charles Henderson high school softball coach Steve Haug said he was looking for a breakout performance by his team after the Lady Trojans had dropped four of its last five games.

Haug was hoping a date with Jeff Davis Thursday would be the remedy the Lady Trojans needed to snap out of its slump.

Snap out of it the Lady Trojans did.

After the Lady Vols grabbed its first lead with three runs in the top of the sixth, the Lady Trojans countered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning and reliever Brittany Carlisle closed the game in exciting fashion to pick up the win as CHHS rallied for an 8-6 win at the Troy Sports Plex.

"This is the best all-together game we’ve played in a while," Haug said. "We’ve been struggling. Whenever anybody caught up to us, we just kind of laid down and didn’t go anywhere. Tonight, we kept battling back, so it’s real big. I told the girls, this might be a turning point for us, we might get hot again and go back winning."

Jeff Davis took a 6-5 lead in the sixth with three runs, two of which were unearned, off CHHS freshman starting pitcher Allie Park, but the Lady Trojans showed its resiliency with a comeback of its own.

Natalie Patterson led off the inning with a single and after Patterson stole second, Clair Goodson followed with a walk. Both players moved up on a passed ball and Chelsey Howard’s sacrifice fly scored Patterson with the tying run. Andrea Ellis’s RBI groundout helped CHHS regain the lead and an RBI single by Samantha Johnson gave the Lady Trojans an insurance run later in the inning.

The Lady Vols didn’t go quietly in the seventh. Carlisle allowed a lead-off single to Sara McRay and after a sacrifice bunt, another single to Tara Trafford. But Carlise induced Autrey Rachal into a foul out and fanned Alyse Hutchinson looking to end the game and improve the Lady Trojans to 16-10 on the year.

Johnson’s three hits in four at-bats and two RBI’s led CHHS’s offensive attack. Park received a no-decision after pitching six innings, allowing six runs, four unearned, on six hits and walking four.

"For a freshman pitcher, she (Park) did a great job," Haug said. "She puts a lot of pressure on herself, but she does a good job, she does better than what she thinks she does. And then Brittany came in and did a great job."

Goodson and Howard put the Lady Trojans on the board early, starting the game with singles and both scoring on passed balls. Laura Wesley’s two-out walk kept the inning alive for Johnson, who belted a Trafford offering into deep left field to score Wesley and push the margin to 3-0 after one.

CHHS couldn’t pull away however, squandering leads of 4-1 and 5-3 before its late-inning heroics.

Patterson also had three hits for CHHS and Goodson, Howard, Wesley, Spann and Rachel Spurlin al added one apiece.