Freshman helps lift Taylor to 5th straight championship

BENTON — There have a few changes to the Taylor softball program since it won a state title last season, but the common denominator of winning titles never changed.

After the way the Lady Tigers competed Friday morning, it still hasn’t.

Taylor continued its run of dominance by thwarting everything West Side Greers Ferry threw at it as the Lady Tigers pounced to a 9-1 victory in the Class 1A state final at Everett Field inside the Benton Athletic Complex.

Ayla Buford delivered seven overwhelming innings for Taylor (22-2), which wrapped up its season with a fifth consecutive championship. Only Foreman, which won six in a row from 2006-11, has won more titles in succession. But the Lady Tigers completed the latest title with a different voice at the helm.

“Everybody always said, ‘Why in the world would you step into a program that’s been this successful?’ ” said first-year Coach Courtney McHenry, who took over last summer after Adam Camp led the team to four consecutive titles. “But I love the girls, I love the game, I love the school, and I had confidence. I tell you, they came to work hard from day one.

“There’s been some changes this year. New coaching staffs are always different, but they’ve accepted the three of us, and they rolled with everything we’ve done. And it worked.”

What also worked for Taylor was the way Buford kept West Side Greers Ferry (224) guessing. The freshman, who had a stretch earlier in the season where she threw two perfect games in the same week, used an array of pitches to limit the Lady Eagles to five hits. She walked 3 but struck out 8 on 104 pitches and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“Just mentally tough,” McHenry said of Buford. “She has good speed, but what makes it work is her other pitches. We always like watching that change-up, and people swinging at those. She does a great job of keeping [teams] off balance. And she’s so confident because of the girls she has behind her.

“Sometimes they may put it in play, but her pitches help keep them to grounders and things like that so the defense can do their job, too.”

McHenry’s notion was on display numerous times during Friday’s game.

West Side Greers Ferry had at least two runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings. But the Lady Tigers repeatedly limited the Lady Eagles’ production by getting key outs, with several coming early in pitch counts.

The Lady Tigers scored first in the top of the second inning when Makayla Downs’ RBI double scored Maggie McHenry. Carly Downs would soon send Makayla Downs racing home when she recorded one of her game-high three doubles to put Taylor ahead 2-0.

The Lady Eagles returned the favor in the bottom of the inning when Alyssa Smith’s infield sacrifice scored Kortnee

Finch to cut into Taylor’s lead. However, that’d be the last time West Side Greers Ferry would net a run.

Taylor, in turn, wouldn’t have that problem.

“[Taylor] did a great job pulling it together when they had to,” West Side Greers Ferry Coach Jeff Smith said. “I think we had some opportunities, just couldn’t quite string it together when we needed to. But that’s a great team and they deserve a lot of credit for getting here backto-back-to-back. … I don’t know how many times.

“But I’m real proud of my girls for what they’ve done. I think we’ve only had one other team in school history make it this far. So this is something the whole community can still be proud of.”

The Lady Tigers piled up four runs in the fifth, with Carly Downs and Maggie McHenry each scoring on wild pitches. Lauran Lenard added an RBI double, while Madison Lindsey scored on an error.

Taylor would polish off its run tally with three more in the seventh, keyed by an RBI double by Maggie McHenry and a two-run single from Makayla Downs.

“I wish we had MVP plagues for all of them because they all stepped up and did something big today,” Courtney McHenry said. “That’s what makes it work. We see teams that definitely have some strong players, but we’re proud from top to bottom. They’re strong, and they all bring something to it.”

Lacy Baker and McKenna Bittle had two hits apiece to power West Side Greers Ferry.