The Cedartown runs trumped Cartersville's three runs in the top of the frame that had helped them claw out from a 13-11 deficit and fashion a 14-13 lead before the Polk County team's final at-bat.
Both teams had swapped the lead repeatedly throughout the morning in a thrilling bit of softball appropriate to settle a district championship.
"It was a see-saw affair and the girls fought back. They never gave up," Keith Russell, Bartow Blue manager, said. "We played well. This was the first time we ever played together and I thought we did well. If a couple of plays had been different, we would have a different result."
Russell said he was particularly proud of the way Bartow responded to the game swings and its own mistakes.
"This same team beat us 19-1 Friday night," he said. "We had a few errors out there today but everyone does. It's what you do when you have them that determines how you finish. We let [our errors] beat us the other night, but we didn't today."
The coach said when the errors occurred, the team stayed focused on its play.
"I just asked them to play like it was the last game they'll play until school starts back in the fall," he said.
Cartersville showed early that it had brought its offensive weapons with it, opening the game with two runs in the top of the first after Lynnsey Hollifield and Courtney Godfrey worked their way on base and touched home plate on a two-RBI single by Deandra Gainor.
Cedartown responded in the second inning, knotting the score at 2-all, but Cartersville sent two runners all the way around in the top of the third for a 4-2 lead. The runs were scored by Casey Brazell and Godfrey.
The Lady Bulldogs ran up their lead in the bottom of the inning, with five players touching home plate, to grab a comfortable 7-4 lead.
Tori Evans helped Cartersville close to 7-5 in the fourth, with the catcher singling her way on and advancing to second and third when a throw aimed at mowing her down went sailing over the second baseman's head. Evans scored when Shelby Rainey singled.
Cartersville held Cedartown in check in the bottom of the frame and tied the game in the top of the fifth when Brazell was driven home by Godfrey, who scored on a single by Hannah Knapp.
Cedartown sent two runners around the base path in the bottom of the inning, to reclaim its lead, at 9-7.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Cartersville pushed across four runs -- when Brazell drove in Evans, Victoria Dabbs, Josie Hyde with a triple and then took home herself in the top of the 6th to put Cartersville up,11-9.
Cedartown answered those four runs in the bottom of the sixth, to go up 13-11, and Cartersville sent three runners -- Knapp, Gainor and Evans -- across in the top of the seventh, for a 14-13 lead.
Cedartown will represent District 5 in Bainbridge on July 12.
Although Bartow Blue won a berth in that same tournament by virtue of its second-place finish, coach Russell said the local team will represent Bartow County in the state Junior League (Little League) tournament, which is scheduled to start July 14 in District 10.