By: Brandon Michea

Finally back over the state playoff hump, Etowah brought home a Region 5AAAAA championship in 2009 on the way to its first postseason berth in more than half a decade.

“I’m excited about the crew I have coming back,” said Sebring, whose team now that we’ve been there, hopefully we can take it a step further. suffered a 3-2 loss in the decisive Game 3 of a best-of-three, first-round state playoff series to Parkview and finished the season 19-9 a year ago. “Although the way we ended last season was disappointing, it was a learning experience; and

“We have a lot of girls that have been in our system for three years already, and while we don’t have a lot of depth right now, this crew is hard working and we should be all right.”

Leading the Lady Eagles are four returning senior starters, including Region 5 Player of the Year Shanynn Palazzo and All-Region Pitcher Lilly Kosicki, both of which were Ledger-News’ First Team All-County selections as juniors.

After batting .390 with 18 runs, 23 RBI and .444 on-base percentage in 2009 while playing all over the field for Etowah, Palazzo is currently holding down duties at second base and serves an important roll as the No. 2 pitcher to Kosicki, who finished 13-4 with 0.83 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 109.2 innings last season.

“Lilly is going to carry a great deal of the load for us,” Sebring said. “Last year was a little bit of self discovery for her, and I think she’s really matured a lot and learned what her strengths are. She worked hard in the offseason, and hopefully she’ll be able to bring us along.”

Seniors Kari Kvitten and Amy Billson also return to the starting line-up, with Kvitten moving to left field and the all-region second-team performer Billson (.302, 10 runs, 15 RBI) keeping her stellar glove at shortstop.

But beyond just their playing experience, Sebring said her seniors are supplying much more.

“They’re all providing great leadership so far,” she said. “They’re not only great players, but they lead by example, and they’re going to be key to our performance this year.”

Joining the senior foursome in returning to the starting lineup is a pair of sophomores in Allie Brown and Torrie Garner.

Brown, an All-Region Second Team selection as a freshman after batting .364 with 14 runs and a .421 average with runners in scoring position, takes over in center field, while Garner is back behind the plate.

Rounding out the Lady Eagles starting line-up are junior Hannah Dickey and sophomore Courtney Atkinson on the corner infield positions, and sophomore Kaitlyn Hughes in right field, while junior Hayley Spears (outfield) and sophomore Jenna Ertel (outfield/first base) will provide depth.

“Our keys are going to be staying healthy, having a consistent defense, and executing our situational hitting,” said Sebring, whose Lady Eagles enter the year ranked No. 5 in Class AAAAA. “Our goal is definitely to build on what we did last year and be playing (in the Elite Eight) in Columbus come October, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’re in a region that’s competitive from top to bottom, and we know we need to stay focused on region play.”

Etowah opens its season today with a doubleheader at the Mill Creekview Invitational in Gwinnett – facing Grayson and Norcross – and continues tournament play this weekend. The Lady Eagles will then travel to Wheeler for their Region 5 opener, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m.

Softball: Etowah makes early statement in region play

Newcomers and old foes alike beware, the Etowah Lady Eagles are not ready to relinquish their spot atop the region.

Opening 5AAAAA play, the No. 7 state-ranked and defending region champion Lady Eagles welcomed both Wheeler and Lassiter into the 5AAAAA fold with defeats, knocking off Wheeler, 7-2, on Aug. 24, and the second-ranked Lady Trojans, 5-3, on Aug. 26.

“I think the girls are confident right now, but they still know that we have a lot of work to do,” Etowah coach Tonya Sebring said. “I felt like we got better each game.

“We had some girls out so we had to shuffle our lineup around a little bit, but people stepped up and made plays for us.”

Among those was Torrie Garner, who highlighted the Lady Eagles’ offensive output in both wins, going 3-for-4 with an RBI against Wheeler and 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI versus Lassiter.

“She’s hitting the ball well for us right now, and she came up with some big RBI,” Sebring said of her sophomore catcher.

Jenna Ertel, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in the Wheeler win, and Hannah Dickey collected a pair of hits in three trips to the plate against Lassiter.

Lilly Kosicki started and picked up the win in both bouts, allowing one earned run on two hits in 3.1 innings of work against Wheeler and surrendering three earned runs on four hits versus Lassiter. She gave way to Chelsi Palazzo in both contests, as the sophomore right-hander combined to allow five hits and three walks and struck out four in 6.2 innings of scoreless relief to log a pair of saves.

Sandwiched between the region wins, the Lady Eagles (5-1) knocked off former region foe North Cobb, 3-2, on Aug. 25.

Kosicki went the distance in the circle and allowed no earned runs on two hits and five strikeouts, while Allie Brown and Kari Kviten had a pair of hits each to lead the offense.

In another busy week, Etowah was to battle region- and county-foe Woodstock on Aug. 31, before taking on Harrison today at 5 p.m. and Marietta on Thursday at 5 p.m. – all at home.

Looking to secure their place in the top-half of the Region 5AAAAA standings, the Cherokee Lady Warriors delivered one of their best all-around performances of the season en route to a 4-1 victory over rival Etowah, Sept. 14 in Canton.

“I’ve told these kids since day one that if they bring their A game each time out, they can compete with anybody, and they did that tonight.”

Led by a pair of hits each from Bree Wells (2-for-3, two runs, walk, double) and Maddie Hester (2-for-3, double), all nine Cherokee starters reached base, as the Lady Warriors collected eight hits, drew five walks and stole five bases. Senior hurler Torie Reeves, meanwhile, went the distance, allowing no earned runs on three hits, one walk and six strikeouts.

After Reeves fanned two in a perfect top half of the first inning, the Lady Warriors wasted little time providing their ace with some offensive support.

Senior Natalie Rhodes led off with a single and stole second, before Wells drew a one-out walk and Brianne Welch reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Naomi Catt then plated Rhodes with a groundout and Reeves helped her own cause with an RBI single, scoring Wells for a 2-0 Cherokee advantage.

The Lady Warriors (13-8, 4-2 region) tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth, as junior Lauren Mullinax walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Courtney Nations, and took third on a single by Hester. Mullinax then scored on a delayed steal, as Hester was thrown out at second.

Hitless through the first four innings, the Lady Eagles (11-7, 5-1) put together a two-out rally to get on the board in the top of the fifth.

Reaching on a one-out fielding error by Cherokee, Kari Kviten moved up to second on a wild pitch, before coming in to score on Hannah Dickey’s RBI single.

Looking to keep the rally going, freshman Maddie Beth Jenkins drove a high pitch through the left side of the field to give Etowah runners on first and second, but for the second time in the game, Lady Warriors’ sophomore center fielder Anna Rowe laid out to make a diving grab for the final out of the frame – robbing Allie Brown of extra bases.

“She made two unbelievable catches,” Carlisle said of Rowe, who also robbed Jenkins of a hit in the third. “Those were big league, and couldn’t be more proud of her.

“It would have been a different ball game if those balls get into the gap.”

Cherokee added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, as Wells stroked a one out double and later scored on a wild pitch.

Reeves took care of the rest, retiring six of the final seven batters she faced.

“She is progressively getting better,” Carlisle said of Reeves. “Early in the season, by the third time through the batting order, hitters were getting to her. That started to happen a little tonight, but she refocused and was able to shut them down.”

Adding to Cherokee’s offensive success, Rhodes finished 1-for-3 with a run, a walk and a stolen base, and Welch went 1-for-2 with two steals.

Kaitlyn Hughes had Etowah’s only other hit.

The Lady Warriors went on to defeat Woodland, 7-0, on Sept. 15 and closed out their regular season region schedule with an 8-0 whipping of Wheeler on Sept. 16.

The wins extended Cherokee’s recent run of success to nine victories in its last 11 contests.

Etowah, meanwhile, took advantage of several Roswell  errors en route to a 9-0 victory over the Lady Hornets on Sept. 15.

Chelsi Palazzo picked up the win for the Lady Eagles.