LaFAYETTE, Ga. — Scott Harden knows it’s rare to win a softball game the way his Ridgeland Lady Panthers did Thursday, but the first-year coach also understands that such wins usually lead to big things.

Ridgeland opened Region 6-AAA play with a 1-0 win at LaFayette despite being no-hit by Lady Ramblers senior Brooke Trapp. The run scored on a fourth-inning error.

“All in all, we did what we had to do to win, and you’ve got to win games like this sometime,” Harden, also Ridgeland’s baseball coach, said after his state-top-10, senior-less team improved to 13-1. “We played good fundamental defense and we ran the bases well, and Jessie Forrester had another good outing.”

While Trapp allowed only three walks while striking out eight batters, Forrester gave up just four singles and a walk, struck out five and did not allow a LaFayette runner past second base. She allowed two hits each to Michelle Fletcher and Kayla Blevins, but the only trouble spot came in the fifth when Trapp took second with one out on a passed ball after walking.

Forrester, though, struck out Ashlee Shattuck and escaped trouble when Madison Queen lined out to center on probably the hardest hit ball of the game.

Ridgeland’s run came in the fourth when cleanup hitter Courtnee Hall walked with one out and was sacrificed to second. With the bats silent, Harden sent Hall on a steal of third, and when the ball bounced away from third baseman Shattuck, Hall scampered home.

The Lady Ramblers, who also are young with three freshmen and two sophomores in the playing rotation, fell to 4-4 with the tough loss.

“Every game in this region is going to be like this,” LaFayette coach Glen Woodard said, “but you’ve got to win when you throw a no-hitter. Brooke did everything you could ask for, and she probably threw the hardest she’s thrown this year.”

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