Maddie Tankersley drives a late-inning hit back up the middle against Baylor Thursday afternoon in a game played on the Lady Red Raider home field. The Lady Seahawks mounted a late-inning comeback to defeat Baylor by a 7-4 margin. SBA now stands at 22-2 while the Lady Red Raiders fall to 6-2.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Coach Tim Couch keeps saying that "it's a long season and there's still much improving to do," but his Silverdale Lady Seahawk softball team appears to be clicking on all cylinders at the present moment.
They're just a Class A school, but they've won some big games against some much bigger teams this spring and Thursday afternoon's 7-4 come-from-behind win over D-II defending state champ Baylor is just the latest big-time foe to fall.
The Lady Seahawks are now 22-2 following Thursday's non-district game between two of the better teams in the Chattanooga area.
Silverdale had somewhat of a slow start on Thursday, but what a bang-bang finish as they broke a 4-4 tie with three runs in the seventh to win.
Baylor, on the other hand, had a fast start with a single run in the first and three more in the second, but the Lady Red Raiders stranded 10 runners for the game and really never came through in clutch situations after that second at-bat.
Needless to say, Couch was happy with the win, but very guarded in the way he expressed his joy.
"Every hitter in our lineup had a hit and it always helps to be consistent at the plate," he said after the rain that fell hard in the seventh slacked up a bit.
"That's a great team over there and a total class act. All of those state championship banners are hanging on that fence for a reason, but we always love playing a team like Baylor.
"We could have folded our tent when it was 4-0 as things weren't looking good, but I kept telling them that they didn't have to get it all back at once. But we played hard and never gave up. Normally good things happen when you have that approach.
"We still have work to do and we're still taking baby steps, but this is a good win for our team. The result of this game won't mean anything in May, but I'm hoping that it will have us ready to play when it gets here," Couch said.
Cheyenne Lindsey led off the Baylor first with a bunt and promptly stole second before scoring on a single by A.J. Johnson.
Lindsey singled and scored again in the second as Baylor extended its lead to 4-0 with two unearned runs. Crosby Huckabay's single with the bases loaded drove in the final run, but that would be the last time the Lady Red Raiders would score as they stranded six base runners in the next four innings.
Silverdale had two big innings where they batted around both times.
The first one was the fourth inning where the Lady Seahawks scored four times to tie the score while the last one was the seventh with the game on the line and weather becoming a factor.
Maddie Tankersley and Emily Harkleroad both had RBI-doubles in the fourth while Ali Birchfield and Savannah Turner also had run-producing singles.
Then in the seventh, Lindsey Newell drove in Harkleroad with what turned out to be the winning run after Harkleroad had led off with a single. Jordan Cooper and Skylar Parton followed a few minutes later with run-scoring singles for a little insurance after the second out had been recorded.
With the rain falling harder than it had all game when Baylor came up for its final at-bat, Mari Gardner had a two-out single, but Harkleroad coaxed Chandler Gentry into a grounder to Shelby Duggard at second for the final out.
"Those guys over there really hit the ball well today. They were one of our three losses last year, so they give us all we can handle more often than not. We always have a good game with them and that's why they're on our schedule," said Baylor coach Kelli Smith after her team had fallen to 6-2 with the loss.
"I thought we got off to a good start with four runs in the first two innings, but we just left too many runners on base. We had our chances to put them away early and didn't. They were able to put together two great innings and they simply outplayed us when they had the opportunity.
"But give them a lot of credit. They showed a lot of heart in today's game," she added.
Harkleroad was the winning pitcher after giving up the four runs on eight hits. She also walked four and finished with three strikeouts.
Kayla Hughes was the losing pitcher for Baylor after giving up all seven runs on 13 hits. She also had three walks and three strikeouts.
Harkeroad, Newell and Tankersley all had two hits for the Lady Seahawks while Taylor Moran, Birchfield, Duggard, Turner, Cooper and Parton all had one apiece.
Lindsey, Johnson and Gentry all had two hits for Baylor while Huckabay and Gardner both had one each.
SILVERDALE 000 400 3 -- 7 13 2
BAYLOR 130 000 0 -- 4 8 0
Harkleroad and Turner; Hughes and Rich.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Baylor's A.J. Johnson connects for one of her two hits against the Lady Seahawks Thursday afternoon. Silverdale, however, collected 13 hits on the day and got by the Lady Red Raiders, 7-4.
photo by Dennis Norwood