Parkers Chapel advances in state softball tournament.

LEPANTO - Parkers Chapel scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth to slug its way past Pangburn 10-6 Friday in the 2A State Softball Tournament, hosted by East Poinsett County High School. The Lady Trojans play Rison today at 2:30 p.m.

This is the third straight year the Lady Trojans have advanced to the state semifinals.

"I'm proud of the win. We had a little gut check when they jumped out on us 2-0 right off the bat," said Parkers Chapel coach Justin Welch. "I told the girls, either you're going to get them back or you can roll over. These girls are fighters and they responded."

The Lady Trojans banged out 13 hits and Pangburn touched PC starter Courtney Phelps for 10 hits.

But, Welch said the play of the game was in the field. After a lead-off bunt single by Hannah Bourgeois, the Lady Tigers' premier power hitter Tylar Vernon came to the plate and unloaded a line drive toward the fence in right-center. Welch said rightfielder Kylie Jones made the best catch he's ever seen.

"She caught that ball as it was about to

hit the fence and then ran into the fence," said Welch. "Nobody thought that the ball was ever going to be caught. Their base runner just took off. Kylie got up and threw the ball to the infnield to double their girl off base. It was a huge play. It was unbelieveable. It was absolutely the catch of the season."

The coach said he couldn't say for sure if it was a home run, robbing grab.

"Her glove was definitely above the yellow marker," he said. "As soon as she caught the ball, 'boom,' she hit the fence. I couldn't say if it was going out. I thought it was gone off the bat."

The play occurred in the fourth. Pangburn led 6-5 going into the bottom of the fifth. The Lady Trojans took the lead when Kenlee McAuliffe doubled and scored on a single by Kaylin Waller. Waller stole a base and scored on Savannah Slaughter's double.

Parkers Chapel added three in the bottom of the sixth. Allison Rogers tripled over the rightfielder's head and scored on a close play on a shallow sacrifice fly by Savannah Jones. With two outs, McAuliffe tripled and scored on Waller's single. After a single by Bailey Norwood, Slaughter drove in a run with a base hit.

The Lady Tigers scored twice in the first before PC tied the game in the second when Rogers' two-run single plated Norwood and Slaughter. After Pangburn scored three in the top of the third, PC tied the game in the bottom half with three, including a two-run single by Kylie Jones.

Norwood was 3-for-4. Slaughter was 3-for-3 with two RBI. Rogers and Waller both went 2-for-4 with two RBI and McAuliffee was 2-for-4. McAuliffe, Waller, Norwood and Slaughter, the 4, 5, 6 and 7 hitters, respectively, combined for 10 hits.

Courtney Phelps had the Herculean task of keeping Pangburn's bats quiet. The senior allowed 10 hits and six earned runs with four walks and eight strikeouts.

Pangburn's Vernon, who had 13 home runs on the season, was 0-for-3 with a walk.

"We pitched around her and she was still swinging at the ball. She reached out and got the one she hit to the fence," said Welch. "That plate was about as round as I've seen. There were no corners. You had to gut it if you wanted to get a strike called. It was tough.

"We sat down with Courtney and went over the game plan. She did a good job of doing what we wanted her to do. She's a mentally tough girl. She's a warrior. I'm glad she's on my side."

Today's semifinals feature all four teams from the 2A South Regional with Spring Hill and Poyen in the other match up. The Lady Trojans will play Rison for the fourth time. PC leads 2-1, including a win in the regional championship on Monday.

"We drove a long way to play each other again," said Welch. "I knew it was a tough regional. I knew from the very beginning we had the toughest regional in the state. This is going to be a tough one. We'll have to be ready."