MURFREESBORO – The Central Lady Purple Pounders lost a heartbreaker Friday morning at Starplex No. 2.
Facing the Lexington Lady Tigers for the right to face Greeneville again, Central came up just a tad bit short, losing 3-2 on a two-run triple with one out in the seventh inning.
The Lady Pounders were thisclose to winning in the loser’s bracket final, but it just wasn’t meant to be as the Lady Tigers came through with the big hit and the big runs when they needed them most.
“That was tough,” said Central coach LeeAnne Shurette shortly after the intense contest ended.
“We fought. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. That was a great effort by Lexie, but she just came up a little short.
We did what we had to do to get the lead, but it was too bad we couldn’t hold it.
“These girls played their hearts out as we were going for it, but we’re disappointed even with a third-place finish. I wish we could have scored a few more runs,” Shurette said after her team finished the year with a record of 22-16.
Center fielder Meghan Maness stroked a solo homer on a 1-2 count in the first to give Lexington a quick 1-0 lead.
It stayed that way until Central pushed two runs across in the fifth.
Samantha Scott singled with one out and stole second before scoring on a two-out double by Alexis Grampp. Kaili Crawley ripped the next pitch for a sharp single to center to drive in Grampp.
The Lady Tigers, who left eight runners stranded through the first six innings, including the bases loaded in the second, simply refused to be denied.
After losing to Greeneville in their first game on Tuesday, the Lady Tigers had battled back through the loser’s bracket and Friday’s win was their fourth since that first loss.
But with the game on the line and time running out, Lexington did what they had to do to win in the nick of time.
Maness reached on a leadoff walk – her third straight base on balls of the game – to start the final rally. She was sacrificed to second by Brooklyn Hays before Alaina Moore walked to put two runners on with one out.
First baseman Samantha McDaniel had worked Central pitcher Brooke Parrott to a full count before lining a shot to center.
Central’s Lexie Ainslie, who had played sterling defense all game with five assists, dove for the fast-sinking liner and came up inches short as the ball rolled to the fence.
Maness and Moore both raced around to score with McDaniel ending up on third as the Lexington players erupted from the dugout in jubilation with the victory secure.
Parrott was the losing pitcher after allowing eight hits and three runs. She had five strikeouts and she walked six.
Cogdell was the starter for the Lady Tigers, but freshman Brylie Brown earned the win after pitching scoreless ball for the final two innings. She had one strikeout and no walks while allowing one hit.
Central finished with seven hits, including two singles by Scott and two doubles by Parrott. Grampp also had the double in the fifth while Crawley and Emma Beach both had a single each.
McDaniel and Wilson were the only two Lexington players with two hits, but the biggie was McDaniel’s triple in the seventh.
The Lady Tigers were to have played Greeneville for the second time at 2:30 CST for the state title. A Lexington win would have forced the second game at 6,
The Lady Tigers improved to 44-7 with the win over Central.
CENTRAL 000 020 0 – 2 7 1
LEXINGTON 100 000 2 – 3 8 0
Parrott and Crawley; Cogdell, Brown (6) and Nowell.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)