Walker Valley and East Hamilton squared off at Warner Park’s Frost Stadium for the Region 3-4A softball championship Wednesday evening and what a game it turned out to be.
We all know that it just takes one run to win a game and that’s all that Walker Valley got as the Lady Mustangs improved to 31-8 with the 1-0 victory.
Walker Valley will now host the sectional game on Friday as they face the loser between Stuarts Creek and Oakland while East Hamilton must travel to Murfreesboro to face the winner on Friday.
Walker Valley’s Ryann “Boogs” Presswood was the winning pitcher as she won an absolute dual with fellow senior Yulai Woodruff. Presswood finished the game with no runs allowed on just two hits while walking none and striking out nine.
Woodruff was equally as good as she finished a complete game with one run allowed on three hits while recording 11 strikeouts and no walks.
It’s too bad that either team had to lose as it was some incredible competition on both sides from the first pitch until the last.
Walker Valley coach Lauren Limburg was all smiles as she shared her sentiments following this latest game, which earns the Lady Mustangs another home game on Friday in the sectional round with the winner earning a right at the Spring Fling next week in Murfreesboro.
“That’s great,” Limburg blurted after a quick talk with her girls just inside the third-base line following the game.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of how we competed today. “Boogs” wants the ball in her hand every time. We did just enough to get the job done, but I’m thrilled for these young ladies as this is one of the best teams I’ve ever had at Walker Valley. Not only are they outstanding softball players, but just great young ladies in real life,” she praised.
Presswood improved to 29-7 individually, but felt like this may have been her best game of the season.
“I’ll begin by saying I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I have a great team behind me and they are special, but they are the reason this has been one of my best seasons. Everything counts as they are really good. But I feel like today was one of my best games as I beat a really good team,” the 17-year-old senior, who has committed to pitch at Texas-El Paso next year, nodded with a smile.
East Hamilton coach Norma Nelson liked what she saw for the most part, but was quick to give credit where credit was due.
“I thought Yulai deserved to win as she pitched another great game, but we just have to make plays defensively and hit the ball and we didn’t do that today,” she began as she was heading toward the parking lot after all was said and done.
“We made too many mistakes and just didn’t hit it today. The Presswood kid was really good again as she kept us off-balance. But the good news is we still get to play on Friday. We’ve had a lot of luck here (at Warner), but we’ll have to win on the road if we hope to be in the state tournament,” she said.
Both pitchers posted goose eggs for the first three innings. Alyssa Davenport was the only base runner for Walker Valley during that time as she reached on an East Hamilton error to lead off the second. Woodruff’s single with two outs in the third ended a string of eight straight outs by Presswood, but it didn’t hurt as Jada Rutley popped to third to end the inning.
Sara Farris had a one-out single in the fourth for the Lady Canes, but was stranded as Presswood struck out the next two and proceeded to retire the final 11 hitters she faced.
Walker Valley scored their only run in the fourth when they got all three of their hits.
Amy Benson and Nessa Byers both reached with back-to-back bunts to lead off, but Benson was caught in a rundown between second and third for the first out. Woodruff then got a strikeout for the second out before Morgan Rice popped a bloop down the line in left for what turned out to be a double as Byers scored from second after stealing a base.
For all practical purposes, that pop maybe should have been caught, but wasn’t, and turned out to be the game-winning hit.
It was a relatively-quick game as Walker Valley left two runners stranded and East Hamilton three.
Bri Nichols reached first in the seventh when a throw to first on a grounder was dropped, but that’s where she finished the day as Madilyn Evans flied to left for the second out before Faith Wadley struck out to end the game.
East Hamilton is now 22-10 as a six-game winning streak was snapped.
WALKER VALLEY 000 100 0 – 1 3 1
EAST HAMILTON 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
Presswood and Rice; Woodruff and Farris.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)