Central's Brooke Parrott, shown in an earlier game against Dyer County, threw 198 pitches in a marathon 13-inning win over Greenbrier Thursday afternoon in a Class AA game at the state championships at Murfreesboro, Tenn.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After Central edged Greenbrier 2-1 in a 13-inning marathon Thursday, the Lady Panthers didn’t have much left to face Christian Academy of Knoxville in a quick-turnaround game at the Starplex softball complex.
CAK routed Central 13-1 in four innings and eliminated the Lady Pounders from the TSSAA Class 2A state softball tournament.
“That first game was emotionally, mentally and physically draining,” Central coach LeeAnne Shurette said.
“It took a lot out of us and we’d already been there a long time. We got to the field at 10:30 (a.m.) for an 11:30 game, but the game in front us went long and our game didn’t start until 12:20 (p.m.).
We finished the Greenbrier game at 3:30-something and turned around and played CAK at 4. If we had been fresh with a little longer break, I think we could have done better.”
Central pitcher Brooke Parrott was as tired as any player on either team, except for her counterpart, Greenbrier’s Violette Dalton.
Parrott threw a whopping 198 pitches in the epic pitcher’s duel and Dalton delivered 154. Both hurlers turned in complete-game efforts.
Parrott gave up eight hits, one unearned run, struck out 14 and walked one. Dalton yielded four hits, two runs, fanned 19 and walked one.
“We’ve played some extra-inning games, but Brittany Sylvester, Kerri’s sister who played for me a few years ago and now helps me coach, could not remember sticking one out this long and coming out on top,” Shurette said. “It was intense and our team fought so hard. It was an awesome game and we’ll remember this one for a long time.”
Guess who started the game? Parrott, that’s who. She threw 36 pitches before giving way to Cassidy Simms after two innings. That pushed Parrott’s total pitch count to 234 for the day.
The grueling 13-inning affair was scoreless going into the 10th.
The Lady Pounders went ahead 1-0 when Kerri Sylvester, starting on second base, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Greenbrier error.
The Lady Bobcats responded in the bottom half of the inning as Caitlin Turner scored on a Central error.
After two more scoreless frames, Central got the game-winning run in the 13th when Amanda Roy, who began at second, jogged home after Simms drew a bases-loaded walk. It was Dalton’s only walk in the game.
Parrott struck out Abigail Klecan for the final out and the potential tying run at third base.
CAK 13, Central 1: The Lady Pounders (29-11), making their 11th state appearance with one championship (1985), were sapped of energy after battling through the earlier long-drawn-out contest and the Lady Warriors jumped into a quick advantage.
The Lady Warriors defeated Elizabethton 6-5 in regulation and finished hours before Central.
“The second game was not representative of our team,” Shurette said. “We played with heart all day, but we were drained before the game even started. I pulled Brooke after the third inning because she was spent.”
CAK scored twice in the first inning, four in the second and seven in the third. Simms, who came on to pitch the third was raked for five hits and seven runs. She walked five batters.
Three players did most of CAK’s quick-strike damage offensively. Kayla Domon, Emma Webb and Allison Zimmerman combined for five runs, six hits and seven RBIs in nine total at-bats. One of Zimmerman’s hits was a two-run homer.
Central finished with four singles by Parrott, Sylvester, Mikayla Gill and Janara Smith.
LINESCORES
Central 000 000 000 100 1 – 2 4 3
Greenbrier 000 000 000 100 0 – 1 8 2
Parrott and Sylvester; Dalton and Bogle.
Central 000 1 – 1 4 1
CAK 247 x – 13 11 0
Parrott, Simms (3) and Sylvester, Smith; Dalton and Bogle.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)