Hayden Dye and Aimee Flynn were the vanguard of Powell’s red-hot batting line-up in Saturday afternoon’s championship game at The Clifford Kirk Memorial/Soddy Daisy Invitational . Both ladies hit homeruns in their 12-3 win, with Dye’s coming in the form of a grand slam. As the game clock ran out in the bottom of the 4th innings the Lady Panthers had already racked up 14 hits and 12 runs.
Kendall Radocesky started, and ended, on the mound for Powell. She had two of her four strike outs in the first inning and used her devastating off speed pitch to great effect all game.
Opposite Radocesky for Walker Valley was starter Addy Girard. She managed to get out of the first inning without any runs scored, but all four Lady Panthers who saw her stuff made solid contact, an indication of what was to come.
The second inning was huge for Powell. They quickly sent Walker Valley back into the field after turning a rare third to first and back to third double play. Then they set about ruining Girard’s afternoon.
In the bottom of the second inning the Lady Panthers batted all the way through the line up and had eight RBIs. Four of the RBIs came off second basemen Hayden Dye’s grand slam bomb over the left field fence. After seven runs had been scored Girard was replaced by Alexis Thornton, who allowed one more run to score before getting out of the inning, with Powell leading 8-0.
Things only seemed to get worse for the Lady Mustangs in the third inning. They went three up three down as Radocesky struck out the first two batters and the third was an easy flyout. Walker Valley’s new pitcher Lindsey Hughes allowed three hits and one run to score before her fielders closed out the inning.
Walker Valley finally got on the board in the top of the fourth, but not because Radocesky had lost her stuff. The Lady Mustangs managed to score three points, all of which came off fluky errors from Powell. Madilyn Kidd’s infield pop-up landed after two Lady Panthers collided trying to make the play, allowing one run to score. The other two came off a big single to left field by Grace Martin. The Powell outfielder should have made the play, but the ball fell out of her glove before she could squeeze it in.
The Lady Panthers walked up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with a five-run lead and time ticking off the tournament clock. Macy Belyea got on first after an error, then Aimee Flynn brought her home after a huge hit that cleared the fence at center field. Cayden Baker hit a double and was brought home by Gracyn Wood’s single soon after.
The umpire called time with one out remaining in the bottom of the fourth and Powell winning 12-3. The Lady Panthers beat Soddy Daisy, White County, Gibbs and Walker Valley to claim the Soddy Daisy Invitational championship in the Gold Division.
“We competed,” Powell Head Coach Jeff Inman said of his teams’ tournament performance. “We saw better pitching her than we have seen so far, and we adjusted well. There are still somethings we need to work on before the end of the season, but bottom line we competed.”
Summary:
Walker Valley 000 3 – 3-5-2
Powell 081 3 – 12-14-4
Girard, Thornton(2), Hughes(3)and ; Radocesky and Chitton.