We all know that anything can happen in high school softball and that no lead is ever safe, no matter how big and no matter at what point of the game.
The Boyd Buchanan Lady Buccaneers built a seemingly-comfortable 8-0 lead in the first three innings of their game with the Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans Friday morning at East Hamilton in the Choo Choo Classic tournament, but had to hang on for dear life before escaping with an 8-5 victory for their fifth straight victory.
The Lady Bucs weren’t so fortunate in their second game of the day as they got beat 9-2 by Cleveland and were scheduled to play a third game later in the day against East Hamilton.
Boyd Buchanan scored one run in the first before adding five more in the second and two in the third. With the time limit fast becoming a major factor, Soddy Daisy simply refused to lay down and surrender as they sent 11 hitters to the plate in the fourth, scored five runs and had the potential winning run at the plate when the game finally ended.
Boyd Buchanan coach Sarah Warren-Bowles finally got to take a badly-needed deep breath when all of the late-game fireworks had ended.
“We got off to a great start, but I think we just got too comfortable,” she said while standing alone in the Boyd Buchanan dugout.
“We just have to learn how to keep the gas pedal pushed down, but we just need to learn from stuff like this. I put the blame on our defense as we just didn’t step up and make plays,” she assessed.
Soddy Daisy coach Chris Day didn’t hesitate to give his opinion following the game.
“We were able to get a little momentum in the game right before this one, but it was just a matter of too little too late,” he said in reference to his team’s first game where they scored late to beat Cleveland, 6-3.
“Our pitching has been solid most of the season. This is the first time we have struggled with control, but it’s hard to win when you don’t throw pitches over the plate. You just can’t afford to do that against good teams,” he said.
Ella Meade walked with one out in the first and later scored the first run on a wild pitch. The Lady Bucs then scored five more in the second on just two hits. The Lady Trojans also helped with two walks and an error, the miscue allowing the first two runs to cross the plate. Meade had a run-scoring single while Kendall Griffith scored another on a wild pitch. Jayde Simms also had an RBI with a grounder to short.
Sydney Baker and Kinly Bates started the Lady Buc third with back-to-back singles and both scored, Baker on Bates’ bunt and Bates on another single by Peyton Pryor.
The lead was 8-0 after three innings and things looked rosy as the time deadline was looming big.
The Lady Trojans weren’t ready to quit and started their rally when Abby Faires led off with a solo homer to center. Ava Blue and Abby Standefer both followed with singles and later scored. Nevaeh Dyer and Chloe McDonald both drove in runs with two outs and the bases still loaded. Soddy Daisy then elected to walk Faires to drive in another run, but that turned out to be a great decision as Izzy Webb popped to second to end the game.
Gooden and Faires both had two hits for Soddy Daisy as the Lady Trojans finished with eight. The Lady Bucs finished with five hits and nobody with more than one. Meade and Bates both scored twice.
Kinley Ervin was the winning pitcher for the Lady Bucs after allowing four runs on six hits. She also walked one while striking out four. Sophomore Peyton Schweitter got the save after allowing the one run on two hits.
The tournament concludes with four games on Saturday. Soddy Daisy will face Cleveland in the first game at nine followed by a game with East Hamilton around 10:30. Hixson then wraps things up with games against East Hamilton and Boyd Buchanan.
SODDY DAISY 000 5 – 5 8 1
BOYD BUCHANAN 152 x – 8 5 0
Pinson, Webb (3) and Gooden; Ervin, Schweitter (4) and Jordan.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)