Lexington cashes in on Sequatchie County's errors in softball tourney

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

photo Lexington runner Brooklyn Hays is safe at second after a wild throw to Sequatchie County infielder Shiann Stockwell during their Spring Fling winners-bracket softball quarterfinal.
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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Defending state champion Lexington looked like possibly a future state champion the way the Lady Wildcats played Tuesday night.

Lexington took advantage of some Sequatchie County miscues during a 10-run second inning with nine of the runs being unearned. The Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Indians 16-2 in five innings in a TSSAA Class AA state softball tournament opening-round game at Starplex No. 2.

Sequatchie County (23-13) will play today in the losers bracket at 11 a.m. EDT.

Iesha Kizer had a three-run home run in the big inning for Lexington (43-5). Samantha McDaniel added a three-run shot in the fourth to make it 13-0.

"I've never seen these girls more ready to go," Lexington coach Ronnie Burke said. "Not to take anything away from Sequatchie, but we looked through the program and saw a lot of teams haven't been here in a while, some here for the first time. That made us feel pretty good, although nothing is guaranteed."

Sequatchie coach Kelly Somerville said playing at home for about the last three weeks helped her team get here, but at the tournament her girls seemed out of their comfort zone. Amber Kilgore's fifth-inning single drove in the Lady Indians' runs.

"We were out of our routine," Somerville said. "I don't know if what we had was nerves so much as just being out of our routine. We've got to put this one behind us and come out focused tomorrow."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.