The Lady Cougars fell to Columbus 4-3 on the second day of 5-AAAA region tourney play Wednesday evening despite stellar pitching from the circle by Kelci Daniel.

Daniel went out and held Columbus to one earned run through six innings as AHS took a 3-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning.

However, the defense began to tense up in the seventh, allowing the Lady Blue Devils to push three late unearned runs across the plate to steal the win.

The Lady Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Rachel Tenney singled and scored on a Sydney Council double.

Alexander went up 2-0 in the second on a Brooke Barnes double, that scored Allie Hinchman. After Columbus got on the board with one run in the third, Tali Milde scored the third run for the Lady Cougars in the fifth inning for a 3-1 lead, setting up Columbus’ comeback in the seventh.

“Defensively we just tensed up and didn’t make the plays we had made all game long,” said AHS coach Zack Graham. “We got a little careless but there is always tomorrow.”

Daniel deserved a better fate than a loss as she threw all seven innings, allowing only one earned run off of five hits. She struck out five and walked two.

“She did a fantastic job,” Graham said. “She kept the ball down and I don’t think they hit one further than 60 feet in the game.”

At the plate, Alexander was led by Council, who had three hits, including two doubles. Hinchman also had a multi-hit game.

The Lady Cougars will now play Carrollton today at 4 p.m. in LaGrange. If they win they will have to play Columbus in the championship game and beat them twice on Friday.

Alexander faced Carrollton three times in the regular season, defeating them once in and early tournament but then losing two close region games late in the season.