Silverdale Baptist pitcher Taylor Moran blows a strike by a Scotts Hill batter in their Class A loser's bracket game on Wednesday at the Spring Fling championships. The Lady Seahawks advanced with an 11-1 run rule win over the Lady Lions . Silverdale will meet Huntingdon High at 5 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO -- Chattanooga may not be represented in Class AA or AAA in state softball, but there's plenty of local teams to be cheering for in Class A competition.
The Meigs County Lady Tigers advanced Wednesday afternoon with a romp-stomp 11-3 win over Summertown while the Marion County Lady Warriors had to endure about a 45-minute rain delay before defeating Huntington by a 6-4 final.
Silverdale will play Huntington on Thursday at 10 while Meigs and Marion will square off in the winners bracket final at 5:30.
Sophomore Ashley Rogers put on a show for Meigs in Tuesday’s opening-round win over Silverdale when she allowed just two hits and struck out 15.
She was almost as good on Wednesday as she surrendered three runs on five hits while striking out 16 and walking none.
And she made her presence felt at the plate by slugging a pair of home runs and driving in four runs.
This young lady has already committed to play for the Tennessee Lady Vols, so it was perfectly fitting that Tennessee coaches Karen and Ralph Weekly were present for Wednesday’s game.
While Rogers had a pair of long balls, so did centerfielder Olivia Johnson, who had a two-run blast in a four-run second inning before connecting for a three-run shot in the seventh.
The Lady Tigers collected 14 hits with Rogers getting three. Kaylie Moore, Madison Crabtree, Lindsey Ward and Johnson all had two apiece as Meigs improved to 38-3 with this latest win.
“We hit the ball well today, but we just have to keep it up,” said Meigs County coach Jeff Davis afterward.
“Right now, we’re in uncharted territory. One of the biggest keys for us today was scoring early as that takes so much pressure off the pitcher and the defense.
“And the intensity level today wasn’t quite what it was yesterday, but we played pretty well and I’m just glad that I get to sleep late again tomorrow,” he added.
The first inning was scoreless, but the Lady Tigers took control with four runs in the second before adding another in the third. Three more in the fifth extended the lead to 8-0 before the Lady Eagles scored twice in the bottom of that same frame.
Rogers had retired the first 13 Summertown hitters in order before pitcher Madison Konig broke up the perfect game with a one-out single to left. Then with a 2-1 count, second baseman Anisten Burleson put her team on the board with a two-run homer to deep center.
An RBI-single from Tatum McGill in the seventh accounted for Summertown’s final run, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome that early deficit.
Marion’s win over Huntington took a whole different approach.
The Lady Mustangs scored three runs in the top of the first and it stayed that way until the Lady Warriors finally starting hitting and tied it in the third.
Starting pitcher Taylor Roberts, who had not been hitting up to that point, was inserted into the spot of the designated player with two on and one out and she came through with a big two-run single up the middle to draw her team within one at 3-2.
Brianna Havner then sacrificed courtesy runner Haley Pritchett to second and she scored the tying run on a single by Harlie Jordan, who turned out to be the winning pitcher.
Marion then took the lead with a solo run in the fifth as Haley Baker scored on a double steal after leading off the inning with a double.
It was 4-3 as play went to the bottom of the sixth and play was suspended with nobody out and a 3-1 count on Marion’s Hailey Frye.
The Lady Warriors were able to score two more times once play was resumed. Breanna Vinson drove in the first with a single while Jordan scored the other on a wild pitch.
Those two runs turned out to be huge as Huntington scored once in the seventh, but Jordan was able to end the game a few minutes later as she fielded a come-backer and threw to first to end the game.
“Somehow we found a way, but we’re in the winners bracket and I couldn’t be more proud of these young ladies,” said Marion County coach Randy Ellis once the game finally ended.
“We had so many base-running errors early and I’ll take the complete blame for that, but they came through when they had to. Taylor kept us in the game early, but Harlie came through with the game on the line.
“She made one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen on that catch in center,” Ellis said in reference to a catch where she literally fell over the fence while making a catch for the first out in the fourth.
She made another spectacular grab for the third out when she made a diving catch on a ball to the edge of the grass to the first-base side of second.
“And then she made another one in the same inning, but these kids won in spite of their coach,” Ellis smiled.
And what about Thursday’s game with Meigs County?
“Ashley Rogers is by far the best pitcher in the state, but we’ll have to find a way to somehow score some runs. We’ll give it our best shot and see what happens,” the coach concluded.
The Lady Warriors finished the game with 10 hits, including three from Vinson and two from Jordan.
The Lady Mustangs finished with eight hits, including two each from Angelina Culley and McKenna Moody.
MEIGS CO. 041 030 3 – 11 14 1
SUMMERTOWN 000 020 1 – 3 5 1
Rogers and Reed; Konig, Franks (5) and Hannah.
HUNTINGTON 300 000 1 – 4 8 3
MARION CO. 000 312 x – 6 10 2
Hayes and Culley; Roberts, Jordan (5) and Thomas.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Silverdale's Lindsey Newell awaits the final put out of the Lady Seahawks game against Scotts Hill.
photo by Dennis Norwood