MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- With only one out left in Grace Academy's 8-0 losers bracket victory Friday morning over Coalfield, school athletic director Les Compton appeared in the Starplex Center press box.
"I guess we'll have to schedule graduation ceremonies here tonight for our four seniors,'' he said.
The win gave Grace a berth in the Class A state softbal tournament finals for the third straight year. And for the third straight year, Grace's senior will graduate on the softball field after Friday night's game.
"I love it,'' Grace senior Kaitlyn Eldridge said. "Right here is where I want to be. All our seniors feel that way.''
Grace (30-8) will play defending state champion Decatur County Riverside (43-5) in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. eastern Friday night. If Grace wins, another game will be played Saturday morning.
Grace's seniors -- Eldridge, Bethan Cowart, Lexi Dean and Reagan Schrader-- are making their fourth straight appearance at the state tournament. They have finished as runners-up the last two years.
"We're going to do it this year,'' junior standout Tory Helton said. "We didn't come up here just to come up here.''
Helton gave up six hits and struck out four.
Coalfield pitcher Lindsey Fadnex, who entered the game with 1,919 career strikeouts, gave up 13 hits and only struck out six. She has signed with Marshall University.
"I think getting in the losers bracket has helped us,'' Helton said. "It gave us the fight we needed. We were already close, but have come together even more as a team this week.''
Grace held only a 1-0 lead entering the seventh inning, but scored seven runs off Fadnek.
Dean was 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Helton was 3-for-4 with an RBI and and a run scored. Eldridge was 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and Schrader was 2-for-4 with a run scored.Cowart was 1-for-4 with a run scored.
BOXSCORE
CHATT GRACE 8 (30-8) COALFIELD HIGHSCHOOL 0 (39-10-1)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
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LEXI DEAN 1b............... 5 1 4 2 DIANA RADCLIFFE ss......... 3 0 2 0
REAGAN SCHRADER c.......... 4 1 2 0 KERA KEATHLEY rf........... 2 0 0 0
BETHANY COWART cf.......... 4 1 1 0 HANNAH MELHORN 3b.......... 3 0 1 0
KAITLYN ELDRIDGE ss........ 4 1 1 1 ANDREA FOSTER c............ 3 0 2 0
TORY HELTON p.............. 4 1 3 1 LAUREN CRAIG pr........... 0 0 0 0
MADDY HORTON rf............ 1 1 0 0 LINDSEY FADNEK p........... 2 0 0 0
ZAKEEA ph/pr.............. 0 1 0 0 ALISON STATEN pr.......... 0 0 0 0
SAVANNAH JENO 3b........... 3 0 0 0 DAKOTA SISE dh............. 3 0 0 0
ERIKA GOODMAN 2b........... 4 0 1 1 COURTNEY DAVIS lf.......... 3 0 0 0
SIERRA NUNALLY lf.......... 4 1 1 2 KEISHA BERRY 1b............ 1 0 0 0
CIERRA SHELDON ph......... 1 0 0 0
MEGAN STEELMAN cf.......... 2 0 1 0
MORGAN MEREDITH 2b......... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 33 8 13 7 Totals..................... 23 0 6 0
Score by Innings R H E
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chattanooga grace... 010 000 7 - 8 13 0
COALFIELD HIGHSCHOOL 000 000 0 - 0 6 2
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E - MELHORN; FOSTER. LOB - golden eagle 9; YELLOWJACKET 4. 2B - DEAN 2; FOSTER. SH -
SCHRADER; JENO; KEATHLEY. SB - SCHRADER; COWART; ELDRIDGE; NUNALLY. CS - CRAIG;
DAVIS.
chattanooga grace IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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TORY HELTON W............. 7.0 6 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 23 25 6 8
COALFIELD HIGHSCHOOL IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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LINDSEY FADNEK L.......... 7.0 13 8 1 3 6 0 0 0 0 33 38 6 8
PB - FOSTER.
Strikeouts - SCHRADER; ELDRIDGE; JENO; GOODMAN; NUNALLY 2; FADNEK; SISE 2; BERRY.
Walks - HORTON 2; LAWRENCE; FADNEK.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)