It wasn’t the best of weather conditions, but teams playing in the annual Yellow Jacket Classic at Lookout Valley Elementary School’s O’Mary-Conard Field made the most of their opportunities on a soggy turf.
Nothing seemed to bother the Sale Creek Lady Panthers as they began the day with an 11-1 win over Lookout Valley. The winning continued with a 2-0 victory over Marion County in a game called after four innings by the time limit.
The Lady Panthers later made it a clean sweep on the day with a 16-1 win over Grundy County.
“That was a good game as these kids did a nice job today,” said Sale Creek coach Clifford Kirk after his team had improved to 12-5 for the season.
“We hit the ball hard right at people, but we also had a few timely hits. We’re starting to play like we’re capable of playing, but that’s a good team we just beat. We played good defense and we hit the ball. And I thought that Macie Stanfield did a nice job,” the veteran coach added.
Stanfield was the winning pitcher after allowing one hit and one walk while striking out four.
Savanna Parker led off the second for the Lady Warriors with an infield single and Autumn Brooks drew a base on balls with one out in the third. Those were Marion County’s only base runners.
Meanwhile, the Lady Panthers scored their only runs in the second inning. Aftter leaving the bases loaded in the first, Sale Creek took advantage of their opportunities in their second time up.
Allison Smith led off with a single to center and scored on a two-out double down the line in left by Madison Stott. Leah Campbell followed with a single up the middle to drive in Stott.
Shelby Sullivan walked to lead off Sale Creek’s third and Smith singled for the second time, but Marion’s Sara Muir got Hannah Stiles on a fly to center to end that threat.
Then in the fourth, Stott singled with one out before going to second on a wild pitch. Campbell moved her to third with a perfectly-executed sacrifice bunt, but Muir left Stott at third when Stanfield grounded to the pitcher for the third out.
Marion County coach Randy Ellis was quick to give credit where credit was due.
“Macie Stanfield is a great pitcher and Sale Creek has an outstanding softball team,” he began after his team dropped to 11-5 with the loss.
“I thought we did okay, but we never could get anyone in scoring position. I wish we had been more aggressive at the plate, but we had a tough time getting anything going,” he added.
While Stanfield was the winning pitcher, Muir took the loss after allowing both runs on six hits. She also had two strikeouts and three walks.
While Parker had Marion’s only hit, Stott, Campbell and Smith all had two each for Sale Creek.
MARION CO. 000 0 – 0 1 0
SALE CREEK 020 0 – 2 6 1
Muir and Thomas; Stanfield, Stott (4) and Stiles.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)