Silverdale Baptist Academy claimed its second straight Division II Class A state softball championship on Thursday with an 8-2 win over USJ at MTSU's Blue Raider Softball Stadium.
photo by Joy Fisk
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Silverdale’s Ella Cunningham finally proved she was human after all, but still way better than good enough to lead her Lady Seahawk teammates to their second straight Division II-A state softball championship and third in school history Thursday at MTSU’s softball complex.
The hard-throwing lefty has been almost unhittable at times this spring and she recorded a gazillion strikeouts along the way. She also had a perfect game, several no-hitters and numerous games where she allowed just one or two hits.
Facing the University School of Jackson for the second time in two days, Cunningham allowed two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six. She also made a throwing error in the first inning that led to two runs. That was more than her teammates needed as they blew open a fairly-close game with five runs in the sixth as they improved to 50-3 with Thursday’s 8-2 win over the Lady Bruins for their 37th straight win.
Silverdale had beaten this same team 10-0 in Wednesday’s winner’s bracket final, but the Lady Bruins didn’t appear to be overwhelmed by that result and came out ready following some afternoon thunderstorms and rain that delayed the start more than two hours.
Silverdale coach Jackie Freeland is just happy that Cunningham has been a big part of the team’s success and really sorry that Thursday’s win was her last in a Silverdale uniform.
“That was fun and I’m so proud of these kids,” Freeland said after the post-game awards had been distributed.
“It seems like it’s somebody different stepping up every time we play, but I can’t say enough about my two seniors as they have been our leaders since the beginning,” she said in reference to center fielder Kennedy Stinson and Cunningham.
“I wasn’t really worried when we got behind early as I never had a doubt that we’d find a way to win. Those five runs late were nice as they were a little insurance, but I thought we played well and Ella pitched another outstanding game,” the head coach added.
Cunningham is a very humble young lady who never toots her own horn, but is always quick to praise her teammates for their support and just for making her job much easier.
“We had to fight back a little bit at the start, but we just proved that we were here to stay. Being able to win 50 games as a team is really big and I’m sad this is my last game with these guys. It’s been a great experience and so much fun along the way,” the Michigan State commit nodded.
The Lady Bruins didn’t have much to show for their first meeting on Wednesday, but they came out ready to play when the game finally got started.
Hayden Ayers led off the game with a bunt single and advanced when Abby Brown grounded to Cunningham, whose wide throw to second put two runners on base with just one out. E.K. Elrod then sacrificed both up a base and both scored when Taylor Shands doubled to deep center.
The Lady Seahawks responded with a run in the bottom of the inning and that 2-1 score remained until the home team took the lead with two runs in the fourth.
Jaliyah Whitaker got hit with a pitch with one out and stole second before scoring on a double by Stinson. Cunningham had a leadoff double in the fourth and a courtesy runner scored when Braylee Raby singled to left. Bita Cox also had a single for the go-ahead run to make it 3-2.
Cox got the Lady Seahawks rolling again in the bottom of the sixth as she led off with a double and scored on a single by Avery Danz. Emry Masterson drove in another run with a double to left-center while Raby sent two more home when she ripped a shot to left that was dropped for an error.
Cunningham then had a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts to start before a fly to Stinson in center set off a huge Silverdale celebration.
Raby, Cox, Danz and Eliana Phillips all had two hits for Silverdale while Shands was the only Lady Bruin with two, including a second double in the third.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF JACKSON 200 000 0 – 2 5 1
SILVERDALE BAPTIST ACADEMY 100 205 x – 8 11 1
Fair and Raines; Cunningham and Hensley.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)