Baylor's Ace Sellers, left, and GPS' Shelby Walters could face off one more time this season, and this time for all the marbles, in the Division II-AA softball championship slated for 12:30 p.m. (CST) at the Starplex Complex on Field #3 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – If you’ve been wanting to see a great softball game between GPS and Baylor this season and just haven’t been able so far, you still have at least one more chance.
The Bruisers lost to Baylor in their first meeting of the season, but have won the last two, including a 7-1 victory in the winners’ bracket final of the D-II state softball tournament at Starplex Field No. 3 Thursday afternoon.
Baylor came bouncing back to eliminate St. Benedict by a 13-0 five-inning rout and will face the same Bruisers on Friday at 12:30 (CST). A win by Baylor would force a second game on Friday at 5:30.
Shelby Walters was masterful in the last win over Baylor on May 9 as she allowed four hits in a 3-0 game that day. She wasn’t too far off of that in this latest skirmish as she allowed one run on five hits while walking three and striking out seven.
Walters was joined by teammates Elizabeth Warwick, Hannah Kincer and Macie Stanfield as GPS players with two hits, but it was a grand slam by catcher Haley Smith in the seventh that broke up a relatively-close game.
Cheyenne Lindsey had three of Baylor’s five hits and scored her team’s only run in the third on a single by Kamrie Rich.
Kincer and Walters both had RBI hits in the fourth when GPS took the lead.
While Walters was the winner, Acelynn Sellers took the loss after allowing all seven runs on 11 hits before being replaced by Macy McKnight with two outs in the seventh.
Baylor coach Kelli Smith knows that her team has to score more than one run to beat a quality team like GPS. She's just glad they have at least one more chance.
"They were just better than us today, but that final score isn't indicative of how close that game was," Smith said by phone later.
"I told my girls that we have to score more than one run to beat a team like GPS, but things sort of got away from us in the seventh. We were in a tough spot after that game, but I was proud of how well we bounced back to beat St. Benedict again," she added.
While Baylor was somewhat down after that first loss on Thursday, the Lady Raiders came storming back to pound the Lady Eagles by a 13-0 count after posting a 12-1 romp the day before.
Baylor scored seven runs in the first before adding four in the second. Single runs in the third and fourth completed the deal as Baylor finished with 13 runs on 13 hits.
St. Benedict had four hits.
Ashton Bazzell and McKnight only had one hit apiece, but it was a grand slam by both as Bazzell’s came in the first and McKnight’s in the second.
McKnight was the winning pitcher after allowing four hits and no walks while striking out 10.
Abby McNamara, Chandler Gentry, Mikayla Packer and Rich all had two hits for Baylor, now 26-4 on the season.
Packer was a busy young lady as she went from the loss to GPS to the track at MTSU where she won the 100 dash and anchored the 800 and 400 relay teams that finished second and third.
She was the second-fastest qualifier in the 200 dash, but bypassed that race to get back for Baylor's second softball game of the day.
GPS is now 22-6.
GPS 000 300 4 – 7 11 1
BAYLOR 001 000 0 – 1 5 2
Walters and Smith; Sellers, McKnight (7) and Rich.
ST. BENEDICT 000 00 – 0 4 3
BAYLOR 741 1x – 13 13 0
Robinson, Sweat (3) and Blackstock; McKnight and Rich.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)