MURFREESBORO – It will be another Baylor-GPS battle for the championship in Division II softball as Baylor advanced with a 10-3 win over St. Benedict while GPS later beat the Lady Eagles by a 2-0 final for the right to face the Lady Red Raiders again.
This year’s D-II tournament was similar to last year as Baylor beat GPS on the first day before the Bruisers came back and beat Baylor twice on the last day for the state title, ending Baylor’s run of three straight.
Baylor coach Kelli Smith just hopes that history doesn’t repeat itself.
“We don’t want a repeat of last year,” Smith said after her team had improved to 25-3-1 with Thursday’s win.
“We beat St.
Benedict 10-3, but that score doesn’t indicate how close that game was.
Cayley Quinn pitched well and our defense was phenomenal.
Our base running was also pretty good as we broke a state record by stealing 10 bases.
“We want to be aggressive on the bases, but our bats finally came through at the end,” Smith suggested.
Quinn was sailing along with a 3-1 lead before Cameron Caldwell’s two-run homer tied the score with nobody out in the fourth. Kayla Hughes came in and slammed the door, tossing the last four innings without allowing a hit or a run.
Meanwhile the Baylor bats collected 10 hits with freshman third baseman Cheyenne Lindsey getting three and scoring three times while stealing four bases.
Lauren Lewis also had a pair of hits while Crosby Huckabay had the biggest bat with two sacrifice flies, a two-run homer that broke the 3-3 tie and four runs batted in.
Maya Mathis also had a hit and scored three times while Kamrie Rich and Trinity Liner both had a double. A.J. Johnson had the other hit for Baylor.
Life didn’t get any better for the Lady Eagles as GPS advanced with the shutout.
Senior shortstop Abbey Anderson provided all the offense the Bruisers needed as her two-run double in the fourth were the only runs of the game.
That was more than enough support for freshman pitcher Shelby Walters, who limited St. Benedict to just three hits while walking one and striking out nine.
Lilly Berger, who had half of the GPS hits, led off the fourth with a single before Haley Smith reached on an error. Hannah Kincer bunted them over into scoring position before Anderson’s big smash with two outs.
“I’m just exciting that we’ve gotten back to the championship game with such a young team,” said GPS coach Susan Crownover.
“We were able to get the big hit when we needed it and that’s all that matters. Shelby pitched a heckuva game as she did a really nice job. And we’re looking forward to playing Baylor again tomorrow,” she added.
ST. BENEDICT 001 200 0 – 3 2 4
BAYLOR 102 025 x – 10 10 1
WP – Hughes; LP – McClain
ST. BENEDICT 000 000 0 – 0 3 1
GPS 000 200 x – 2 4 0
WP – Walters; LP – McClain.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)