Tennessee rolls and ties against Georgia
The score in the first game in Monday’s 20th Tennessee-Georgia AllStar Softball Classic at Frost Stadium was lopsided. Conversely, the score in the second game couldn’t have been any closer.
After Tennessee won the opener 15-2, the Georgia squad rallied for three runs each in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the second game. The teams were given an eighth inning to try to break it, but the game was called at 9-9, creating the first tie in the series’ 20-year history.
Meigs County’s Madison Crabtree, who has signed with Chattanooga State, went 4-for-4 and scored two runs in the opener. Her second hit was a three-RBI triple in the second inning that made it 6-0 at the time. She was selected the game’s most valuable player.
“That was great,” said Meigs coach Jeff Davis, who was also coach of the Tennessee squad. “Madison
can definitely swing the bat. She’s a great kid and she’s been a great player for us for four years.”
Memphis-bound Delaney Smith and East Tennessee State signee Lauren Lee sparked the Tennessee team at the top of the order in the first game. They went 3-for-8 combined, but they scored seven runs. Each drew a walk, and Cleveland’s Lee twice reached on errors.
Rhea County’s Smith reached once on an error and had two stolen bases. With the run she scored as a courtesy runner in the nightcap, her five runs scored tied a classic record and she was chosen Tennessee’s player of the night.
Georgia’s player of the night was Calhoun’s Jana Johns, who played every inning and went 4-for-8 overall. The South Carolina signee was 3-for-4 in the second game with a homer, a double and three RBIs.
“I just came out wanting to wear my Calhoun jersey one more time before I go off to college,” Johns said.
She was also chosen Georgia’s player of the game in the Tennessee-Georgia basketball game earlier this month.
“I love basketball,” Johns said. “It’s something to break up softball. Softball is something I play all the time. It’s been fun to get out and compete in something different.”
Other key performances in the first game for Tennessee included Polk County’s Kallie Hawkins going 3-for-5. The Walters State signee drove in one run and scored two. Silverdale Baptist Academy’s Emily Harkleroad and Skylar Parton had memorable nights, and Red Bank’s Kendall Farr and Hanna Land had a memorable inning.
Austin Peay-bound Harkleroad pitched three innings in the first game, then went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and a stolen base in the second game. The Cleveland State-bound Parton was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in Tennessee’s win.
Farr, who is headed to NCAA Division III’s Greenville in Illinois, had a three-run homer in the bottom of the first in the second game, and Land, who is headed to Cleveland State, had an RBI double to make it 4-0.