Whitwell shades Grace

In Class A high school softball games when teams appear similar, the one that executes in the clutch wins. Friday at Grace Academy, that was Whitwell.

With the tying and go-ahead runners on base, the Lady Tigers pulled off a double play that put the finishing touch on a 2-1 victory over the Lady Golden Eagles.

The game was a rematch of last year’s Region 3 final that Whitwell hosted and won. The teams play at Whitwell next Friday, but both coaches agreed that chances are good they could also meet again in postseason.

Grace Academy (6-4) had runners on second and first with one out when Noel Bartley came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Grace coach Tina Walker called for a bunt.

Bartley put the bat on the ball, but pitcher Amber Webb made a diving catch, then got up and threw to first base and doubled off the runner. Leadoff batter Lacye Walker, who was 2-for-3, was on deck.

“We tried to get them to second and third with the top of the lineup coming up,” Coach Walker said. “We knew Lacye could drive them in. She just got a little too much of it and got it up in the air.”

Webb and Lacye Walker each struck out eight batters, and neither allowed a walk. Courtney Patrick relieved Walker with two Lady Tigers on base in the seventh and stranded them by getting a foulout, a flyout and a popout.

Whitwell (8-4) had lost a District 6 game by the same score the day before at Sale Creek. Coach Grace Pickett said her team was victimized by 12 strikeouts Thursday and came in more focused against the Lady Golden Eagles.

“It was like a pitchers’ duel, so we knew we had to put it in play somehow,” Pickett said. “We made some errors. They made some errors. There were runners on base with no outs that didn’t score. I think both of us made it too close.”

The Lady Golden Eagles missed out on a chance to tie it in the sixth when Erica Elleman followed Walker’s single to center field with her second bunt single. Walker scored on an errant throw down the right-field line on the hit and Elleman wound up at third.

Webb worked out of the situation by inducing a popout, a shallow flyout and a groundout.

“Not getting down after we made a mistake was key,” Pickett said.

Taylor McDaniel tripled to the fence in right with one out in the sixth and scored Whitwell’s second run on Whitney Long’s infield hit up the middle. Each went 2-for-3.

Brandi Nunley’s two-out single to right field had put Whitwell ahead with an unearned run in the fifth.

“We made a few mistakes,” Coach Walker said. “Some of them were mental mistakes. In a game like this that can really make a difference, we knew whoever executed at the right time was going to win.”