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STEALING SECOND - Rison's Layne Potter (right) begins her slide beneath the tag of Woodlawn's Kendall Tooke (left) during first inning action of Saturday's Clas 2A South Region championship game. Potter went on to score what would be the first of five runs for the Lady Wildcats in the opening frame.
PARKERS CHAPEL - A fiverun first inning by the red-hot Rison Lady Wildcats set the tone early as they frustrated the Woodlawn Lady Bears, 9-0, in an all-Cleveland County finals at the Class 2A South Region Tournament Saturday afternoon at Parkers Chapel.Both teams advance to the Class 2A State Tournament to be held this Thursday through Saturday at Palestine-Wheatley High School.By winning the regional championship game, Rison (174) will go in as the South's no. 1 seed. The Lady 'Cats will face the Cotter Lady Warriors (16-6), the no. 4 seed from the West, at 3 p.m. Thursday.Woodlawn (19-9), the South's no. 2 seed, is scheduled to meet the Magazine Lady Rattlers (167), the no. 3 seed from the West, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.Saturday's regional finals at Parkers Chapel was the third time the Cleveland County rivals have met this season with some sort of title on the line. The Lady 'Cats beat Woodlawn 10-5 to win the 8-2A regular season championship, and then edged the Lady Bears 5-4 in the 8-2A District Tournament finals.This time, Rison had an explosive start that put Woodlawn in a hole it was never able to recover from.Rison's Layne Potter had a single to lead off the bottom of the first, and one out later, Josey Edwards had a hit as well to put two aboard. Woodlawn then misplayed a ground ball to third allowing Potter to score, and a wild pitch added another run to make it 2-0.After the next batter struck out for the second out, Haven Simpson then singled to score Johnson. Rhagen Price then drew a walk and Carlie Crain followed with a double into right, bringing Simpson home for another score. A dropped third strike allowed Price to score as well making it 5-0.Lillie Fay McWhorter, Woodlawn's ace pitcher who took to the circle for the first time in three weeks due to an injury, seemed to settle after the rough start. McWhorter retired the next 10 batters she faced before Edwards reached on an error with one out in the fifth. Elissa Summar, Edwards' courtesy runner,…
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