KENNESAW — In a battle of unbeatens, Harrison was the one which held on for a 4-3 non-region victory Wednesday against Etowah at Clackum Field.

Harrison (9-0), the fourth-ranked team in Class AAAAA, took a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning, but Etowah (4-1) responded with runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to make things interesting.

Reliever Kayla Caruso, back in the circle one day after throwing a perfect game against South Cobb, found herself in a jam in the seventh after the defense committed two errors.

Trailing 4-2, Etowah’s Jenna Ertel reached base on an error and moved to third on Bridgette Flaherty’s one-out double. After a flyout failed to advance any runners, Allie Brown made it safely to first on another error, which allowed Ertel to score. That play also advanced Flaherty to third with what would have been the game-tying run.

But Caruso induced a groundout to end the game and preserve Harrison’s undefeated streak. She gave up two runs — one earned — on three hits and struck out two.

Etowah’s three runs ended the Lady Hoyas’ stretch of five consecutive games without giving up a run.

“Etowah is a quality team,” Harrison coach Olivia Petersen said of the Lady Hoyas’ former region rival. “For a non-region game, I like playing them because they’re always a good test for our team. It was good to see how we handled those bumps in the road in the seventh. We had two errors in one inning, saw some adversity and had to refocus.

“We could have folded, but these girls took the pressure well, and that could go a long way for us down the road. We made plays at the end to hold on for the win.”

Harrison logged three runs in the second inning for the early lead.

Caruso walked, moved to second on Amy Koenig’s sacrifice bunt and reached third on a wild pitch. Amber Broome walked and stole second, but a throwing error to second as Etowah tried to pick off Broome resulted in Caruso scoring.

Next, Rachel Gardiner’s RBI triple plated Broome and a single from Rachel Farris scored Gardiner for the 3-0 margin.

The advantage grew to 4-0 in the fourth when Gardiner, who batted 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, reached first on an error. She went to third on Farris’ single and a throwing error on the play before then scoring off of another Etowah error.

The Lady Eagles fought back behind strong pitching from relievers Brittany Rosenberry and Bridgette Flaherty, who held Harrison in check, and timely hitting over the final three frames.

Courtney Atkinson singled in the fifth, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Flaherty’s two-out RBI single.

Etowah made it 4-2 in the sixth after Brown singled, advanced to second on Grayson Lutz’s walk and scored on Kaitlyn Hughes’ one-out single.

The Lady Eagles nearly pulled off the comeback in the seventh, but couldn’t get a fourth runner across home plate.

Harrison starter Dresden Maddox allowed one earned run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. She was taken out of the game after getting hit in the shin on a play at home and then suffering a leg cramp.

“I’m proud of the way Kayla came in and pitched after Dresden got hit in the leg,” Petersen said.

Sierra Maddox, Jesse Giles and Courtney Sutter also had hits for Harrison.

Rosenberry gave up one unearned run on two hits in two innings pitched for Etowah, while Flaherty allowed one hit over the sixth and seventh innings. Lady Eagles starter Chelsi Palazzo gave up three earned runs on four hits in two innings.

“We didn’t play our best ball (Wednesday),” Etowah coach Tonya Sebring said. “We hung in there and didn’t lay down after trailing by four runs, but, if we had played our best effort, then this could have been a different result.”