Baylor's A.J. Johnson connects for one of her three hits in the game to help lead the Lady Red Raiders to a 12-5 victory over GPS in the Gold Bracket championship game of the Choo Choo Classic played at The Summit in Collegedale.
photo by Dennis Norwood
It was only 11 days ago that Baylor went to GPS for a key D-II Middle-East Region softball game, only to head back home on the short end of a 2-1 score in a game they only collected two hits.
Saturday's championship game in the Gold bracket of the Choo Choo Lady Canes Tournament at The Summit wasn't anything like that first meeting and the results were just a little bit different as well.
Taking advantage of an offense that banged out 16 hits, the Lady Red Raiders scored at least one run in six of the seven innings en route to a 12-5 victory.
Baylor has a potent offense with a lineup capable of getting a lot of hits and scoring a bunch of runs. That's exactly what happened in the final game of the two-day tournament where Baylor won all six of its games and improved to 19-4 with the latest triumph.
"Our bats were fantastic as we've been hitting the ball well ever since that loss at GPS two weeks ago," said Baylor coach Kelli Smith after the championship hardware had been distributed.
"Our whole approach at the plate has been differerent and our bats have been hot. We've had a great weekend and we played well. We like to play a lot of softball in April so we'll be ready for what comes in May, but I'm really proud of the way we played these last two days," the veteran coach continued.
Baylor scored twice in the first, once in the second and third the three in the fourth before being shutout in the fifth.
Sophomore Trinity Liner when ripped a three-run homer in the sixth for a 10-0 lead and it looked like the Bruisers might get run-ruled, but that's when the GPS bats came to life.
Haley Smith hit a two-run homer after Kaitlyn Songer reached on an error to lead off the inning. Ariana Whatley added a run-scoring single four hitters later while 13-year-old Elizabeth Warwick -- a spunky and talented eighth grader -- concluded the scoring with a two-run single to left.
Baylor then closed out the game with two runs in the seventh while reliever Aaliyah Henderson closed the deal with a scoreless final inning.
And what about that inning where GPS batted around and scored five runs to stay alive?
"I think we lost our focus during that inning. Kayla Hughes had pitched a bunch of innings this weekend and may have been a little bit tired. I probably should have pulled her and put in a fresh arm, but there are just times when stuff like that happens," Smith explained.
GPS coach Susan Crownover was visibly tired after a day at the complex where she and her team had been for most of the previous 12 hours.
"It got a little crazy out there and it's been a long day, but we didn't lay down as we just kept fighting," she said.
"Baylor hit the ball awfully well, but we threw some younger pitchers out there for some experience. We'll just move on an get ready for the next game as we still have a lot of softball left to play," Crownover said after her team's record dropped to 16-10.
Baylor's A.J. Johnson, a speedy center fielder who had a spectacular diving catch of a fly in the fourth to end the inning, was one of three Lady Red Raiders with three hits.
It was her two-run double that got her team off and running in the first inning. She added an RBI-single in the fourth while collecting a single and scoring her third run of the game in the seventh.
Crosby Huckabay had three hits as well, including doubles in the second and seventh innings and a single in the fourth. She also drove in two and scored twice.
Winning pitcher Hughes had a single and two doubles, including the first two-bagger in the third that bounced over the fence and was almost a leadoff home run.
Cheyenne Lindsey and Abby McNamara had two hits apiece while Kamrie Rich drove in Baylor's final run with a single in the seventh.
Sydney White, Macie Stanfield and Smith all had two hits for GPS. Hannah Kincer, Whatley and Warwick all had a single each.
Hughes was the winning pitcher while Stanfield was the loser.
Baylor had beaten Soddy Daisy in one semifinal in the Gold bracket while GPS blanked Marion County in the other.
The Mt. Juliet Lady Bears scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to nip East Hamilton by a 4-3 final in the Silver bracket championship.
BAYLOR 211 303 2 -- 12 16 4
GPS 000 005 0 -- 5 9 2
Hughes, Henderson (7) and Rich; Stanfield, Sanders (4), Stanfield (7) and White.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Lilly Berger (2) of GPS slides into the tag of Baylor's Abby McNamara at second as the umpire winds up to call her out.
photo by Dennis Norwood