MURFREESBORO – The Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans saved their best
for last in their opening game here at the StarPlex in the TSSAA state softball
tournament.
It was a pitching dual between Collierville’s Baleigh Wisher
and Soddy Daisy’s Emily Edwards as neither team scored in the first five
innings.
The Lady Dragons were then able to punch across a single run
in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Trojans came back to score the
winning runs in the bottom of the seventh for the 2-1 victory.
Soddy Daisy added a 3-2 win over Wilson Central later in the day and will now face Dickson County in the winners bracket final on Thursday at 5:30 (CST).
“I think these girls like to make things interesting, but it’s
been a wild ride this season and we’re enjoying it,” said Soddy Daisy coach Wes
Skiles after his team improved to 36-8 with the come-from-behind win in the first game.
“We knew that we just had to take it one pitch at a time and
that’s what we did, but it seems like it’s a different star every game and
never the same person. Now we have to
turn around and get ready for Wilson Central,” he added.
Kelsey Gross had a run-scoring single in the sixth for
the Lady Dragons, but it wasn’t enough
to hold off the Lady Trojans.
Limited to just two hits through the first six innings – a two-out
double by Brooke Hale in the third and a leadoff single by Haley Reynolds in
the fourth – the Lady Trojans made good things happen in their final at-bat.
Hannah Smith led off with a single and was sacrificed to
second by Savannah Moore. Abby Walker
then tied the score with a single up the middle while Jessica Boles reached on
a Collierville error. Hale reached on a
fielders choice for the first out before Cameron Swafford ripped a shot over
the left fielder’s head as Walker raced home with the winning run.
Soddy Daisy had faced Wilson Central on one other occasion
this spring, a 2-1 win by Soddy Daisy at the Lady Trojan Invitational about a
month ago.
Wednesday's second meeting was just as close.
The Lady Wildcats scored a run in the first and kept that 1-0 lead until the Lady Trojans scored two in the fifth and one more in the sixth.
Savannah Moore and Abby Walker hit back-to-back solo homers in the fifth while Moore had a double in the sixth before a courtesy runner scored on a single by Walker.
Brittany Wiseman ripped a one-out double for Wilson Central in the sixth and was replaced by courtesy runner Keily Preston, who scored on an infield error to make it 3-2.
Walker had three hits to lead Soddy Daisy's offense while Moore had two.
Emily Edwards was the winning pitcher in the second game while freshman Shonna Penney earned the win in the first after relieving Edwards with the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth inning.
COLLIERVILLE 000 001
0 – 1 5 2
SODDY DAISY 000 000 2
– 2 5 1
Wisher and Conlan; Edwards, Penney (5) and Moore.
SODDY DAISY 000 021 0 -- 3 8 1
WILSON CENTRAL 100 001 0 -- 2 6 1
Edwards, Penney (6) and Moore; Bodenhorn and Wiseman.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)