Smackover claims 3A8 district championship.
SMACKOVER - McGehee
didn't just hand over the 3A 8 Softball District Tournament trophy to Smackover on Friday. The Lady Bucks had to earn it.
Mallory Brewer struck out 16 batters as Smackover slipped past the Lady Owls 3-1 to claim the championship.
The Lady Bucks scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open a 1-1 deadlock. Smackover improved to 30-2 with the hard-earned victory, which might be just what the team needed heading into next week's regional tournament.
"That's what I told them after the game. We needed a close ball game," said Smackover coach Dennis Steele. "We needed a game to see, are we going to crack under pressure? Are we going to fold? Are we going to make errors? Are we going to panic? I told the girls, 'There are things you have to be able to do and you did them today.' I thought they did a good job."
Lexi Gilbert led off the sixth with a solid single. With Sharnes McGhee running for Gilbert, Lydia Pullin dropped a sacrifice bunt, which was misplayed, allowing McGhee to get to third. McGhee motored home with the go-ahead run when a pitch squirted through the catcher's legs for a passed ball. Lexis Cook hit a hard grounder to second, which was booted, allowing Pullin to score.
That was all the run support Brewer would need. The senior lefty simply overpowered the Lady Owls at the plate. She struck out the first batter in the bottom of the seventh, then caught a pop up for the second out. Christie Shopher stroked a double to center but Brewer got Kamille Evans to pop out to end the game.
Brewer gave up three hits and two walks. Through six innings, 15 of the 18 outs recorded were strikeouts.
"Mallory pitched a great game," said Steele.
Her counterpart, McGehee's Kelsey McGraw put a silencer on Smackover's bats with off-speed offerings throughout the game. The usually powerful hitting Lady Bucks only squared up two balls during the game. One was Tessa Watson's line drive to center that was snared and the other was Gilbert's lead-off
single in the sixth.
"She had a good off-speed pitch and did a good job," Steele said of McGraw, who allowed five hits and struck out one batter. "We've got to be able to adjust to it."
McGehee scored an unearned run in the first. Evans reached on an error and scored on McGraw's twoout single.
The Lady Bucks tied the game in the bottom of the first. Watson walked and stole second. Karli Goocher beat out an infield hit before Reagan Richardson plated the run with a ground out. The Lady Owls cut down Goocher at home, trying to score on a fielder's choice grounder.
"They got the unearned run in the first. Other than that, I thought our kids played well. We played good defense," said Steele. "Their pitcher kept us off-stride. She pitched a good game. Give her credit.
"Now, we've got to get ready for regionals."
Smackover advanced to the championship game with a 12-2 win over Drew Central earlier in the day. Ashley Haynes allowed three hits and two unearned runs while fanning four.
Sabrina Estridge was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Goocher, Heather Haltom and Vanessa Lofton had two hits apiece.
McGehee advanced with a 7-5 win over Junction City. The Lady Owls scored five in the second and led 7-1 before the Lady Dragons mounted a late rally.
Taylor Smith doubled and Charly Temple stroked a tworun single in the bottom of the seventh. Hannah McDonald's RBI single cut the deficit to two before McGraw caught the final Lady Dragon looking at a third strike to end the game.
Temple struck out seven batters for Junction City.
Memorie Hall walked, stole a base and scored a run in the first and doubled off the fence in the third.