Open up the Lambert softball ledger because the 2016 team has just made their mark by being the first team to make it to the Elite 8 in Columbus, GA. They swept Hillgrove last week  in the second round of the 7-AAAAAAA softball state playoffs. The Lady Horns improved to 25-3 overall.

After a jittery first inning in game one, starting pitcher Kassidy Krupit gathered her composure and had seven strong innings on her way shutting out Hillgrove. Krupit, a University of Delware commit, finished with five strikeouts and allowed no walks.

Krupit and Brooke Miller both had hits in the bottom of the first, but were left stranded. In the second inning, Skylar Aledia took one to the fence and came away with a stand up double, but again the Horns weren’t able to capitalize. It wasn’t until the fifth inning when Miller and Marissa Guimbarda blasted two homers on back-to-back hits that Lambert finally dented the scoreboard. That score held up, and the Horns took game one with a 2-0 win.

Game two, on the other hand, was an all-out hit show starring Guimbarda. She rocked Hillgrove with two home runs and four RBIs. Krupit contributed on both offense and defense, with a homer of her own in the fourth and pitching another impressive shutout, her eleventh of the season. Rachel Cowart and Lindsey Nelson both had RBI singles to contribute to the hitting burst. Miller, Aledia, and Catie-Rose Hays all contributed to the hitting rally in the second inning that saw 7 runs cross the plate. The Lady Horns capped off the the series with a 9-0 win in game two.

Lambert will be making their trip to Columbus on Wednesday to participate in a three-day double elimination tournament facing off with the top 8 teams in Class 7-AAAAAAA, with the championship game on Saturday. Their first game will be against Lassiter (Region 4) at 2pm on Thursday. A loss to Lassiter would mean playing six games through the loser’s bracket to make it to the championship game. There’s no doubt with their commanding lineup and dominant pitching, they have a shot to make it to the championship game.