RINGGOLD, Ga. — The 2008 Georgia high school softball season is barely a week old, but you couldn’t tell it by watching the Ringgold Lady Tigers.

Tuesday’s 10-0 victory over Northwest Whitfield improved Ringgold to 6-0 and showcased a team already in midseason form. The win, which featured a two-hit, six-strikeout performance from pitcher Caty Sparks, followed the Kell Tournament championship in which the Class AAA Lady Tigers defeated five teams from classes AAAAA and AAAA.

“I thought coming into the season we had a chance to be a good team, but we’ve come into our own pretty quick,” Ringgold coach Vince Phillips said. “Caty has just picked up where she left off last year, and she’s gotten better. And I’m very pleased with the way we’re swinging it. I thought we might be a little tired after this weekend, but they came out strong.”

Staff Photo by D. Patrick Harding The ball gets lost in the dust as Ringgold's Megan Crawford (10) works her way safely over the glove of Northwest Whitfield's Kayla Piorkowski (5) in the 3rd inning.

Though Sparks (6-0) had just one perfect inning, she did not allow a runner past second based and fanned Northwest slugger Callie Thomas twice with runners on base. Sparks, like her coach, is more than pleased with the team’s start.

“This team has a lot more confidence than last year’s team,” Sparks said. “Everybody’s doing an amazing job so far, even the players who don’t get in the games. We’re much more of a team this year.”

After going down in order in the first inning against first-year Northwest starting pitcher Casey Griffin, the Ringgold offense came alive in the second with three runs, including a two-run double by freshman Hayley Robinson. The Lady Tigers scored six runs with seven consecutive hits to start the third inning. Mahala Volz, Haley Gibson, Sparks, Megan Crawford and Robinson had RBI hits in the inning.

“Our situational hitting has been beyond my expectations at this time of the year,” Phillips said. “They really got after them today.”

Robinson, Volz and Monica Davenport had two hits each for the Lady Tigers. Tammy Lambert’s Lady Bruins are 0-1.

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