PINEVILLE — Senior pitcher Chatman Taylor led the Lady Mountain Lions back to the 13th Region tournament for the fourth straight year as Pineville defeated Lynn Camp 17-2 in four innings Monday in the 51st District tournament.

Taylor allowed just two unearned runs over four innings while striking out six and even better at the plate. She went 4-for-4 with a home run and a triple to drive in seven runs.

“This is four years in a row we’ve made it to the region and we’ve won our district twice in that time,” Pineville coach Shari Knuckles said.

“The girls are excited, they felt like they had to make it to the finals with the district here at home. They’ve done that, now they’ve got to finish that last milestone and get a top seed going into the region.”

Lynn Camp took advantage of two Lady Lion errors in the first inning to jump out to a 2-0 lead. One run scored as Sierra Shepherd reached on an error, the other on a base hit by Carrie Burnette.

“We came out a little bit flat at first and let them get two runs right off,” Knuckles said. “I think the heat got to us some in that first inning, but we settled down from there.”

Pineville took charge in the bottom of the first.

Whitney Partin walked with one out then Taylor connected for a two-run homer to tie the game. Stephanie Epperson later doubled and scored on an error to put the Lady Lions up 3-2.

After holding the Lady Cats scoreless in the second Pineville batted around. They took advantage of six walks and three errors to put up five runs. Taylor bases-clearing triple was the only hit in the inning, but it was a big one.

“We had to adjust to their pitching, we’re used to seeing faster pitches and Lynn Camp kept rotating them in and out,” said Knuckles. “Once we adjusted we started scoring runs and we finished it up in four innings.”

Epperson singled home Partin in the third the Lady Lions brought an early end to the game with eight runs in the fourth.

Meredith Bowling and Erica Venable opened the fourth with singles. Sierra Rutherford, Victoria Knuckles and Partin all reached on errors. Taylor and Epperson added RBI hits and and Epperson later scored the game-ending run on an RBI ground out by Bowling.

Pineville (7-6) advances to Wednesday’s championship game against either Knox Central or Barbourville.

Lynn Camp ends the season with a record of 4-15.

— — —

Lynn Camp 200 0 — 2 1 6

Pineville 351 8 — 17 9 3

Shepherd, Gentry and Duncum; Taylor and Brooks. W—Tayor. L—Gentry. HR—P:Taylor.