MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Winning state championships in softball never gets old for Baylor coach Kelli Smith.
They are all special and some more than others, but the latest that Baylor captured here at Starplex Field No. 3 Friday night might rank as one of Smith’s favorite.
As you already know, the competition came down between the Lady Red Raiders and the GPS Bruisers.
These two teams had split games in the regular season, but the Bruisers won the first one here at the TSSAA season-ending tournament with a resounding 7-1 win Thursday afternoon.
Baylor’s backs were surely to the wall, but the Lady Raiders never flinched as they waxed St. Benedict by a 13-0 romp to earn Friday’s shot at the Bruisers.
The biggest challenge for Baylor wasn’t beating GPS just one time, but having to come right back and do the same thing again to claim the title.
But that’s exactly what Baylor did as they won their third straight Division II-AA title with two wins on Friday, including a wild and crazy 10-7 victory in the first game that took well over three hours to complete.
The second game wasn’t nearly as tense and nerve-racking as the first as Baylor scored single runs in the first, fourth, fifth and seventh innings while adding a two spot in the sixth.
The Bruisers answered the call with one in their half of the first, but that’s all that they could muster as Baylor won going away.
“We knew at the start of the day that the pressure was on them and that we had absolutely nothing to lose,” said a happy and smiling Smith after her team had finished the season with 28 wins and just four defeats.
“We had a couple of young pitchers this year we knew would have to work together to get the job done, but we were facing a really good GPS team and we knew we had to score at least four runs to win. We had to use every aspect of our offense, from our power to our speed to our ability to play small ball, but it was a complete team effort and one of our best performances of the season,” Smith added.
Cheyenne Lindsey ripped the second pitch of the game for a triple into the gap in left center and scored on a grounder to second by Abby McNamara.
Baylor starter Acelynn Sellers walked Kaitlyn Songer and Elizabeth Warwick in the first inning and Songer scored on a sacrifice fly by Hannah Kincer.
Ashton Bazzell, who had a solo homer in the seventh for a little insurance, had a single to right in the fourth and scored on a single by Mikayla Packer.
Baylor’s lead was 2-1 at that point before GPS loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the same inning.
Shelby Walters led off with a single while Ariana Whatley doubled down the line in right. A walk to Carly Benefield loaded the sacks and signaled the end for the Baylor eighth grader as freshman Macy Ann McKnight was called in to put out the fire.
She did exactly that.
She struck out Chapel Cunningham for the first out, forced Songer into a fielder’s choice grounder for the second out before getting Warwick on a comebacker for the third out.
That may have been the turning point in the game as GPS only had one hit and one other base runner the rest of the way.
“It was tough coming in with the bases loaded and nobody out, but I knew I had to go right at them,” McKnight said amidst the team celebration after the game ended.
“That situation could have changed the whole game, but I had great defense behind me and I was totally confident in their ability to make plays. We knew we had to go after them after winning the first game, but we had it in our minds from the start of the day that we were going to win both of these games today,” the talented freshman added.
Baylor added to its lead with a single run in the fifth. Kamrie Rich singled after McNamara walked and later scored on a single by Brenley Garrison.
Then in the sixth, Emily Rye led off the Baylor half with a double and advanced when Packer reached on an infield hit. The speedy freshman then stole second before Rye scored on a sacrifice fly by Lindsey and Packer scored on another groundout by McNamara.
Elizabeth Warwick had a one-out single in the seventh, but McKnight got the second out on a fielder’s choice before ending the game with a strikeout.
GPS coach Susan Crownover had high hopes of her team ending Baylor string of state titles, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“We left too many runners on base and simply didn’t make enough plays,” Crownover said after her team’s season ended at 22-8.
“We had a lot of opportunities early and not scoring in the fourth with the bases loaded and nobody out really hurt. It’s really a disappointing way for our season to end on two tough losses to Baylor, but we did it to them a few years ago and now they’ve done it to us.
“We don’t have any seniors and I’m confident we’ll be back, but we just have to figure out how to finish a close game. And we made too many errors that allowed innings to continue. We just didn’t get it done today,” she concluded.
Bazzell, Rye and Packer all had two hits to lead the Baylor attack while Whatley was the only GPS player with two hits.
Sellers was the winning pitcher after allowing one run on four hits while walking four and striking out one. McKnight was equally as effective with no runs allowed in three innings on just one hit and no walks.
Walters, who had pitched really well in recent games against Baylor, was the loser after allowing all six runs on 10 hits. She also had four strikeouts and one walk while also hitting one batter.
BAYLOR 100 112 1 – 6 10 0
GPS 100 000 0 – 1 5 3
Sellers, McKnight (4) and Rich; Walters and Smith.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)