Ridgway Christian School made a late charge for the Arkansas Association of Christian Schools state softball championship, but Columbia Christian had just too big of an inning to overcome.
Columbia scored all of its runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and held on to win the championship 6-5 Tuesday at Regional Park. Ridgway, which finished the season 6-4, won its first game in the AACS tournament Monday and another Tuesday to advance to the title game.
The Lady Eagles led 2-0 before Columbia took the lead in the fourth. Ridgway came back with two runs in the sixth and had to overcome a double play to have a chance at victory.
It appeared the Lady Eagles would. After Columbia turned two off a pop-up, Ehvan Shaw laced an inside-the-park home run to make it a one-run game. But a groundout on the next at-bat ended the game.
Madison Heflin and Taylor Allen each had two hits against Columbia. Henley Tucker, Rainey Davis, Hailey Wilkins and Shaw lined one apiece. Tucker struck out five batters.
Earlier Tuesday, the Lady Eagles beat Centerton 16-2. Tucker also struck out five, while Beth Ann Rogers, Maddie Lewis, Wilkins, Shaw and Tucker accounted for Ridgway’s hits.
In Monday’s game, Shaw and Davis each came up with two hits as Ridgway dominated Southwest Christian 16-1.