The Cedartown Lady Bulldogs fount out first hand what practice games are for last Thursday against Model High School. They discovered a valuable lesson during the scrimmage game and that’s never give up.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Bulldogs rallied to tie the game and then won it in extra innings.

“I’m proud of how the girls played,” Cedartown head coach Chris McKelvey said. “We’ve got some work to do but I saw some good things.”

According to the international tiebreaker rule when a fast-pitch softball game goes into extra innings the last batter to get out the inning before gets to start the next frame on second base.

So last Thursday, Rebecca Gray started out on second base and after Breanna Wallace led off the inning by drawing a walk, both runners advanced to second base on a wild pitch.

Model would intentionally walk Jolie Puckett to load the bases and after a Lady Bulldog got out, Rachel Rush would draw a walk to win the game 6-5.

“It’s a new season and a new beginning,” McKelvey said. “My goal was to get kids in today and see where we are at. In my mind both teams are winners.”

Model had taken an early lead, scoring twice in the top of the first inning. Cedartown’s bat finally came to life in the fourth frame, scoring twice to knot the game at 2-2.

The Lady Blue Devils had a big inning in the top of the fifth, plating three runners to take a 5-2 lead. However, the Lady Bulldogs came roaring back and tied the game at 5-5 when Wallace drilled a deep RBI double to right centerfield.

That set the stage for the extra inning comeback and the Lady Bulldogs now enter into the regular season with confidence.

Cedartown’s first real game will come Friday when they open play in the Lady Devils Fall Classic at Alto Park in Rome.