Meigs Bounces Back, Beats Silverdale, 8-5, For State Class A Softball Title

Pearson Belts Grand Slam In 6-0 Lady Seahawks' Win To Force Second Showdown

  • Friday, May 27, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Meigs County's Lindsey Ward races towards second in an earlier game against Marion County. Ward provided both offense and defense in the Lady Tigers 8-5 win over Silverdale in the championship game of the Class A series. The sophomore outfielder smashed a homerun and turned in a sparkling catch of long fly ball.
Meigs County's Lindsey Ward races towards second in an earlier game against Marion County. Ward provided both offense and defense in the Lady Tigers 8-5 win over Silverdale in the championship game of the Class A series. The sophomore outfielder smashed a homerun and turned in a sparkling catch of long fly ball.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Either Meigs County or Silverdale was going home with a state championship trophy on Friday.

Pushed to the limit by the spunky Lady Seahawks in a 6-0 loss – all six runs were unearned – the Lady Tigers responded in the Class A championship game with an 8-5 victory and claimed the school’s first state softball title.

“I’m on top of the world,” Meigs coach Jeff Davis said.

The Lady Seahawks got a third crack at the Lady Tigers for a tournament opening 3-1 setback on Tuesday, and made the most of their opportunities and a “gift” error in left field that led to the six-run fifth inning – almost as many runs as Meigs had given up in the entire postseason.

In the title showdown, with fans from each side turning the contest into a heated exchange of words and Davis restricted to the dugout early on, the Lady Tigers (40-4) utilized three home runs and a nine-hit attack to finally subdue Silverdale (42-5).

Meigs, which was 1-8 in four previous state appearances, got a two-run homer by sophomore phenom in a three-run first. In the third, Madison Crabtree clubbed a one-out solo homer – she went 3 for 3 with three RBIs – and after Rogers singled Lindsey Ward smacked a two-run dinger and the Lady Tigers had a 6-2 advantage.

It was Ward’s drop of a lazy fly ball in the sixth inning of the first game that led to Silverdale’s six-run uprising, which resulted in Rogers’ third loss of the season.

But Ward not only smashed a home run, she chased down a two-out drive by Silverdale’s Elise Pearson and robbed her of a three-run homer. Ward made the grab and fell over the fence, coming up with the ball in her glove to signify the catch.

“That catch was pretty amazing,” Ward said. “My thought while going after the ball was that I had to do what I had to do to help my team. I caught the ball, I’m on the ground and the ball is in my glove. Now we won state and the best feeling I’ve ever had.

“I was pretty upset when I dropped the ball earlier. That was a big out we needed, but I didn’t get. “I just brushed it off in the second game.”

Said Davis, while being mobbed by jubilant fans on the field following the game, “In the first game, Lindsey dropped that ball that led to all their runs, but I’d say she more than made up for in the second game.”

Rogers, a sophomore already committed to Tennessee, had a difficult day against the tough-minded Lady Seahawks, who were also seeking their first state title.

Silverdale roughed Rogers up for nine hits with three coming in the big inning.

In the championship game, the Lady Seahawks belted out 10 hits that included a 3 for 4 effort by Lindsey Newell. Ali Birchfield and Taylor Moran each had two hits.

Silverdale scored three runs in the fourth one coming across on Moran’s double, one on Kaili Crawley’s single and the third on one of three errors by Meigs third baseman Crabtree in the inning.

That’s when Ward caught Pearson’s long drive that started a string of seven straight outs before Newell’s single leading off the seventh.

With one out, Pearson singled to put runners and first and third.

Rogers got Shelby Duggard on a pop to short and struck out Savannah Turner to end the game.

Rogers struck out eight, giving her 63 for the tournament, nine shy of the state record.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Rogers said, “the best feeling I’ve ever had before.”

After the fifth inning when Silverdale had cut the Meigs lead to 8-5, assistant coach Tim Jennings asked Rogers if she could “had anything left.”

“She said, ‘I’ve got this,’ ” Jennings said. “I knew she had to be tired because she’s pitched all week.”

The Lady Seahawks got the most of the earlier rematch with Meigs they had hoped for ever since the opening loss, which, matched, as it turned out, the tournament’s best two teams.

That loss snapped Meigs County’s 16-game winning streak, in which it recorded nine shutouts (the Lady Tigers had 23 on the season) – it recorded nine shutouts in those games – and provided the Lady Seahawks with a mighty dose of confidence heading into the “if necessary” game.

“That felt really great,” said Pearson, a senior designated player. “I had struck out twice and went back up there confident I could get a hit. I wasn’t sure it was going out at first, but it did. It’s a huge boost in confidence for me and the team. I’m hoping we’ll all come back stronger in the next game.”

Rogers, a University of Tennessee commitment, and Silverdale’s Taylor Moran locked up in a pitching duel for four innings.

Silverdale had five hits. No runs.

Meigs County had two hits and hadn’t even sniffed at a run.

It all changed in the fifth.

Rogers struck out Savannah Turner.

Skylar Parton reached on a bunt single.

Ali Birchfield singled to left.

Emily Harkleroad flied out to left.

Moran lofted a lazy pop fly to shallow left field and Ward drifted under the ball, but dropped it for an error that provided the Lady Seahawks with their first run.

“That’s tough luck for Meigs County, but an error cost us in the first game,” Silverdale coach Tim Couch said.

Newell walked to load the bases.

Crawley drew a walk, forcing in Birchfield with the second run. The bases remained packed.

Pearson sent a towering shot to center field. Meigs County’s Olivia Johnson roamed back to the fence, but watched helplessly as it sailed beyond the boundary for a clutch grand slam.

“My run support was incredible,” said Moran, who finished with a three-hit shutout. “That gave me some leeway with how I pitched the last couple of innings. This feels amazing and it was a total team effort.”

Said Couch of Pearson’s big bang bomb to center, “Elise needed that hit. Don’t ask me why, but she did. It was obviously a big hit. It was huge.”

Moran allowed five baserunners, but only one got past first base – Crowder singled and went to second on Moore’s hit in the seventh inning.

Meigs County came into the game having allowed just eight runs in the previous nine games.

On Friday, it was Moran’s chance to shut down the Lady Tigers.

“She’s been doing this all year,” Couch said. “Taylor leads by example and I knew she would pitch well today.”

The two teams had two hours between the two games and Couch was confident the first-game win had the potential of paying championship dividends in the finale.

“The confidence factor will likely come into play,” he said. “Meigs is a great team and our girls are never overconfident, but they are confident in their ability to come back and fight.”

Silverdale 2, Marion County 1 – After losing to Meigs County 3-1 in their tournament opener on Tuesday, the Lady Seahawks faced up uphill battle to reach the title game.

They did so, however, by routing Huntingdon, 16-3, blasting Midway, 12-2, and then slipped past the Lady Warriors in the loser’s bracket final, earning a spot against the Lady Tigers in the championship game.

Marion County, which dropped a 5-1 decision to Meigs County on Thursday in the winner’s bracket final, took an early 1-0 lead when Breanna Vinson and Makayla Dalton each reached on infield hits. With one out Haley Baker’s single scored Vinson with what proved to be the Lady Warriors’ only run.

Silverdale tied the game in the second. Crawley singled, moved to second on Turner’s sacrifice bunt, stole third base and came home on Marion County’s lone error of the game.

In the fifth, Birchfield was hit by a pitch. Emily Harkleroad singled and Taylor Moran’s hit loaded the bases. Newell’s sacrifice fly to left pushed Birchfield across with the game-winning run.

Sophomore Shelby Duggard threw a complete game, checked the Lady Warriors on four hits and struck out two and walked two.

Moran and Crawley each went 2 for 3 to account for four of Silverdale’s six hits off Marion County’s Harlie Jordan. She walked two and fanned one.

Boxscores

Class A State Championship

Silverdale                           101 300 0 – 5 10 2

Meigs County                    303 200 x – 8 9 3

Moran, Duggard (3) and Turner; Rogers and Reed.

Class A Winner’s Bracket Final

Meigs County                    000 000 0 – 0 3 1

Silverdale                           000 060 x – 6 9 0

Rogers, Johnson (6) and Reed; Moran and Turner.

Class A Loser’s Bracket Final

Marion County                 100 000 0 – 1 4 1

Silverdale                          010 010 x – 2 6 1

Jordan and Thomas; Duggard and Turner.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

Silverdale Baptist's Elise Pearson connects for a hit against Midway in an earlier Spring Fling contest. Pearson came through with a clutch grand slam against Meigs in the first game of their championship meeting.
Silverdale Baptist's Elise Pearson connects for a hit against Midway in an earlier Spring Fling contest. Pearson came through with a clutch grand slam against Meigs in the first game of their championship meeting.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo
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