The Forrest Lady Rockets' mantra of never give up, never give in rang true again, this time in a foggy, misty, late-night come-from-behind 11-10 win over Cascade in the second round of the District 9-A Tournament at Huntland Monday night.

"I am really pleased with the fact that they didn't get down on themselves, they never gave up, and didn't give in," said FHS head coach Becky Cheatham. "As long as they keep battling, we can fix the other stuff, move on, and be OK."

Forrest trailed on three separate occasions in the contest, mostly due to seven infield errors, and some timely hitting by the Lady Champions over the first six innings.

'Eraser' at work

Cascade led 4-0, going into the bottom of the third before an RBI double by Liz "The Eraser" Daughrity, combined with a Cascade error cut the lead in half.

Katie Warrick, who took over for starter Sara Jordan in the third, held Cascade in check in the top of the fourth, and in the bottom of the inning, Warrick delivered a two-run single, tying the game at 4-4.

The Lady Champions scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fifth on three Forrest errors.

In the home half of the inning, Jessica Harmon carved a one-out double before Samantha King nailed a scorcher to left that was caught for the second out.

Another tie

Kiyoko Puca beat out an infield single and stole second to keep the inning alive for Lainey Mays, who drilled a two-run single up the middle, re-knotting the game at 6-6.

In the top of the sixth, the Forrest infield defense looked like Swiss cheese, booting the ball three more times and all three of the miscues turned into runs for Cascade, making it a 9-6 ballgame.

"Could we have played any uglier defensively?" said Cheatham. "We have got to fix that defensive stuff. I don't know what in the world is wrong with us, so we have to really work on defense tomorrow."

Jordan walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Daughrity made it to first base on a Cascade miscue.

Taking advantage

Savannah Brothers made the Lady Champs pay for their mistake, lacing a two-run double to right field.

Harmon moved Brothers to third base before eighth-grader Samantha King bashed a long home run through the fog, deep over the center-field fence, giving Forrest their first lead of the game at 10-9.

"I was just standing there believing what could happen there," said Cheatham. "I felt from the moment she hit it that it was gone."

Cascade was not done, coming back to tie the game in the top of seventh on hits by Lady Champion hurler Summer Carter, Kelsey Parker, and an RBI base knock by Katelyn Jarrel.

Forrest was not deterred as Warrick led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to right field before being sacrificed to second by Jordan.

Winning hit

Daughrity erased any doubt of victory, working a 3-2 count and fouling off two more balls before knocking Warrick home with the winning run on scorching a ground ball.

The Lady Rockets (16-7) will take on Moore County (16-8) in the winner's bracket game on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Huntland.

Prior to the Forrest game, the Raiderettes drilled Huntland 14-0, sending the hosts to the loser's bracket.

Warrick picked up the win in the circle for Forrest and had a huge night at the dish, going 4-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, and a run scored.

Brothers (2-4, RS, 2RBIs) and Puca (2-3, RS, BB 2SB) had two hits in the contest for Forrest, while King (1-4, HR, RBI, RS), Mays (1-5, RS, 2RBIs), Jordan (1-2, BB, HBP, 2RS, Sac Bunt), Harmon (1-3, Sac Bunt, RS), and Daughrity (1-5, 2RBIs) all had one hit apiece.