Ridgeland wins first fastpitch softball tourney title since 2001
Beef. It’s what’s for dinner. And it will be on the dinner plate of Ridgeland senior Morgan Crawford sometime in the near future.
Crawford muscled up against third-seeded Northwest Whitfield in the Region 6-4A championship series this past Thursday, belting three solo homers to spark her team to a sweep.
She hit two dingers and picked up the win in a 3-0 Game 1 decision before adding a final blast in the fourth inning of a 12-4 Game 2 triumph.
“Coach (Richie) Wood told me that if I went backside with (a homer) over the fence, he’d get me a steak dinner,” said Crawford with a big smile on her face. “This (region title) means everything to me, but to my team too. I love all of them. We’ve worked so hard and it’s really paid off.”
“She hit the first two out and I told her that if she hit one out to right, I’d buy her one,” Wood confessed. “Looks like I owe her a steak because she just crushed that last home run to rightfield.”
Crawford launched a solo homer in the bottom of the second
inning of the opener to stake her team to a 1-0 lead. Ciera Foster would double and come home on a Cortney Mooneyham RBI-hit and Crawford would add one more homer in the third.
She allowed just six hits and one walk to get the pitching win and finished with five strikeouts.
The Lady Bruins, playing as the home team in Game 2, jumped on Ridgeland starter Allison Wallin for two runs in the first. But Ridgeland responded in a big way a half-inning later as a seven-run frame gave them the lead for good.
Katie Davis beat out an infield hit to bring in a run and Katie Carruth would later step to the plate with bases loaded and one out before lacing an RBI-single to right to tie the game. Northwest would get a force out at home for the second out, but the Lady
Panthers would push across five more runs before the Lady Bruins could finally close out the inning.
The third run would score on an error before Kiera Foster came through with a two-run single. After Crawford walked to reload the bases, Ciera Foster drove in two more with a single to boost the lead to 7-2.
Northwest got one run back in the bottom of the inning, but Crawford’s bomb in the fourth and a Haley Sandridge RBI-single in the fifth upped the Lady Panthers’ advantage to 9-3.
The Lady Bruins would tack on a final unearned run on a Ridgeland error in the bottom of the fifth, but the Lady Panthers would get a three-spot in the top of the seventh as Grayson James ripped a two-run triple and came home on a wild pitch.
Carruth led the offense with three hits, while Davis, Crawford and Ciera Foster had
two each. Mooneyham had a double as Ridgeland pounded out 13 hits in the victory.
Wallin pitched 5.2 innings before having to be replaced in the sixth after taking a line drive off the leg. She had an ice pack on her leg after the game, but stayed in to finish the game at first base as Crawford closed it out. Wallin got the win, giving up three earned runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
No. 7 Ridgeland (18-7) will entertain Madison County, the No. 4 seed from Region 8 in the first round of the state playoffs. The first two games of the best-of-three series are scheduled for Wednesday, starting at 5 p.m.
“I’m just so happy for our team, for our school and for all of these people around Ridgeland who have waited so long for this to happen again,” Wood added. “Now our next goal is to make it to the Elite Eight.”