Newton County's Brittany Thomas forces out the Lawrence County runner as she attempts to turn the double play Saturday.

The Newton County softball juggernaut just keeps rolling forward with another state championship in their sights.

The Lady Cougars hammered visiting Lawrence County 10-5 and 4-1 on Saturday to advance to the Class II slow-pitch state semifinals. 

Newton County improves to 29-2 on the season and has won 27 games in a row. Lawrence County falls to 27-4 on the season.

“I knew you aren’t supposed to look ahead but I knew if we took care of business that we would match up with them again,” Newton County coach Justin Chaney said. “They are such a well-coached team and do things right. I have a lot of respect for them.

“I was proud of our kids. We we a lot of two-out hits and you have to do that to win big games. I was really proud of that. We couldn’t have played much better than we did. And I thought my pitcher (Katelyn Gipson) pitched really well. She hit her spots and played her position well. People take that for granted in slow-pitch and she had one heck of a day and is to be commended for that.”

The Lady Cougars advance to the Division II semifinals where they will host Wesson on Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m.

“I’m estatic right now,” Chaney said. “It was a big series in know that if you win you will be able to host South State and play in front of a huge crowd. And the thing is, we won an offensive game and a defense game. One of the things I have been on them about is mental toughness and I think they are a mentally tough group of kids.”

Newton County 10, Lawrence County 5

The Lady Cougars used a five-run sixth inning to take a Game 1 win over Lawrence County.

After a scoreless first two innings, Lawrence County scored three runs in the top of the third inning to take the lead. Newton County answered back with two in the bottom of the third and one in the fourth to tie the game at three.

The Lady Cougars took a 5-3 lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth before Lawrence County tied the game back up with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Lady Cougars then pushed ahead with five runs in the bottom of the sixth as Lizzy Hollingsworth delivered a big two-run double to deliver the winning runs. The Lady Cougars added three more runs for the final margin.

Newton County had 14 hits in the contest as six players had at least two hits. Brittany Thomas was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs while Hollingsworth was 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. Jada McDougle was 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Landree Amis was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Jessie Thaggard was also 2-for-3 while Lorren Ivey had a double and drew two walks.

Newton County 4, Lawrence County 1

The Lady Cougars used a four-run third inning and a tough defense to take a three-run win and sweep the series.

Newton County had only six hits in the contest as Jada McDougle was 2-for-3 and scored a run. Landree Amis was also 2-for-3 while Lorren Ivey had a double, drove in a run and scored. Lanie Phillips and Shelby Anderson also scored runs for the Lady Cougars.