Meigs County Upends Silverdale In Class A Softball

Lady Seahawks Limited To Two Hits In 3-1 Loss To Lady Tigers

  • Tuesday, May 24, 2016
  • John Hunt
Meigs County pitcher Ashley Rogers was a thorn in the side of Silverdale Baptist for seven innings Tuesday evening in their Class A opening round game at the TSSAA's Spring Fling championships in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Moore led the Lady Tigers to a 3-1 win over the Lady Seahawks, striking out 15 while giving up only two hits and two base-on-balls. Silverdale must now fight their way back through the loser's bracket for a shot at Friday's championship game.
Meigs County pitcher Ashley Rogers was a thorn in the side of Silverdale Baptist for seven innings Tuesday evening in their Class A opening round game at the TSSAA's Spring Fling championships in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Moore led the Lady Tigers to a 3-1 win over the Lady Seahawks, striking out 15 while giving up only two hits and two base-on-balls. Silverdale must now fight their way back through the loser's bracket for a shot at Friday's championship game.
photo by Dennis Norwood

MURFREESBORO – The Meigs County Lady Tigers have been on a collision course with the Silverdale Lady Seahawk softball team all season and they finally got a chance to play – in the opening round of the Class A state tournament here at the StarPlex Field Number 4.

By far the two best teams in that classification, the Lady Tigers claimed round one with a come-from-behind 3-1 win, scoring all three runs in the fifth inning and making a winner out of sophomore Ashley Rogers, who went the distance and pitched extremely well.

Decatur must have been a lonely place to be Tuesday night as seemingly everyone from that proud town was present for the softball game and cheering loudly and proudly for their Lady Tigers.

Silverdale got a leadoff walk for Ali Birchfield to start the game and she went to second on a groundout to third by Emily Harkleroad.  Then with two outs, Lindsey Newell ripped a double to left-center to drive in Birchfield.

Turns out that was the only run of the game for the Lady Seahawks as Rogers then retired 16 straight Silverdale hitters before Harkleroad singled with two out in the sixth.

Rogers finished with 15 strikeouts and two walks while allowing the two hits and the one run.

“I was nervous and excited before the game because this is the biggest game of my career so far.  I just tried to relax and let my defense make plays behind me, but I’m hoping we’ll get to play them again in the championship game on Friday,” the slender 16-year-old smiled.

“That was a great win for our team, but we were a little tight offensively,” said Meigs County coach Jeff Davis after his team had improved to 37-3.

“The error they made in the fifth sort of loosened us up and Olivia Johnson had the big hit.  She didn’t hit it hard, but she hit it in just the right spot.  That’s a huge monkey off our back as that’s our first win ever in the state tournament,” he continued.

“I’m so glad that we get to sleep in tomorrow instead of having to come back and play the first game.  I know that Silverdale has a fine team, but we do too.  We just have to hit better tomorrow.  We hit a bunch of balls hard that were foul.  Maybe we’ll straighten them out tomorrow,” Davis added.

Kaley Meadows led off the Meigs fifth with a single, leading Silverdale coach Tim Couch to replace starting pitcher Harkleroad with Shelby Duggard.

Aubrey Reed grounded the first pitch to third where Taylor Moran made the play before making a bad throw to second, allowing Meadows to advance to third.  Madison Crabtree then knotted the score with a sacrifice fly to right.

Rogers followed with a single before Johnson came through with the two-run single to right that turned out to be the game-winning hit.

Silverdale coach Couch knows that his team has to get back on track Wednesday and that they still have a shot to come back through the losers bracket.

“The Rogers girl was really good today, probably the best pitcher we’ve faced all year, but we weren’t disciplined at all at the plate,” he began after his team’s seven-game winning streak was snapped as their record dipped to 37-4.

“That error really hurt, but they took advantage and that’s the sign of a good team.  For whatever reason, we were uptight, but we just have to refocus on the next game.  Our plan is to see them again on Friday, but we’re a much better team than we showed.

“We did the same thing the last time we made it this far back in 2012 where we came back to finish third,” Couch added.

Harkleroad and Duggard both allowed three hits apiece with Harkleroad striking out five and Duggard two.  Harkleroad also walked four and hit one.

Silverdale returns to action on Wednesday morning at 10 when they face Scotts Hill, an 8-1 loser in the first game.  Meigs will face Summertown in the winners bracket semifinal on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. (CST).

SILVERDALE  100 000 0 – 1 2 1

MEIGS CO.  000 030 x – 3 6 0

Harkleroad, Duggard (5) and Turner; Rogers and Reed.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Meigs County's Alyson Crowder (7) dives back to first base, avoiding a pick-off while Silverdale first baseman Lindsey Newell falls while diving for an errant throw.
Meigs County's Alyson Crowder (7) dives back to first base, avoiding a pick-off while Silverdale first baseman Lindsey Newell falls while diving for an errant throw.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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