Kelly game two blast sends Calhoun to Class AAA softball Elite Eight

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

CALHOUN, Ga. - With the game on the line, the team's most dangerous hitter up and first base open, Calhoun High School softball coach Diane Smith was surprised to see Taylor Kelly getting pitched to.

The senior shortstop didn't waste the opportunity, blasting a three-run homer to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning as the Lady Yellow Jackets completed a sweep of Oconee County in the GHSA Class AAA second-round playoff series Wednesday, 5-2. Calhoun (30-4), which won the opener 9-0 in five innings, will advance to the Elite Eight in Columbus, Ga., next week.

"I thought they might walk her, but she's been sick since Sunday and hadn't done anything in the first game, so I guess they thought they could get her," Smith said of her slugger. "I wouldn't have pitched to her. That was a great way for her to end it in her last at-bat at home, and though she didn't feel well, that made her day."

Calhoun also played long ball in the opener, getting a two-run homer from No. 9 hitter Madison Green -- her third in the playoffs -- in the second inning and a three-run shot by Emily Mitchell in the third. Kinsey Liscio easily made the runs stand up with four innings of two-hit, six-strikeout pitching, with Mitchell needing just six pitches to get through the fifth as Smith used her usual pitching rotation.

The Lady Warriors (17-21) did not go away quietly in game two. After Raleigh Fitch's two-out, two-run single gave Calhoun a 2-0 lead in the second inning, Oconee tied it in the fourth on run-scoring singles by Maura Grace Dickens and McKenzie Pollock.

Oconee pitcher Brianna Strickland was in control until the seventh when Green led off with a walk and speedy Ryan Brzozoski followed by reaching on an error. Ashlyn Barnes moved the runners to second and third with a slow groundout, bringing up Kelly, who wasted no time belting Strickland's first pitch over the left-field fence.

"We're playing pretty good right now," Smith said. "I was very pleased with the sweep, but they did make me nervous in the second game. I think we'll be OK in Columbus if we keep playing defense like we're doing and hit like we have lately."

Liscio earned the win with three shutout innings of relief, striking out the final six Oconee batters.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.

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