The first thing Silverdale Baptist Academy softball coach Tim Couch said in his postgame interview Thursday was "That's a load off our back."
That may seem like an unusual comment from a coach whose team just breezed to a 10-0 five-inning victory over Grace Academy to win the District 5-A championship, until one realizes it marks the first high school district championship in the program's 10-year history.
"We've been blessed with a great bunch of players," Couch added. "We've got a lot of good kids, a lot of good players."
The program has advanced to the Region 3 tournament eight of nine years beginning in 2007, its second season. However, the only region-semifinal victory in that span was 1-0 at Marion County in 2012, the year the Lady Seahawks made their only state-tournament appearance.
Silverdale (21-5-1) will host a region semifinal for the first time Monday when Sale Creek makes the trip. Game time is expected to be 5:30 p.m. Grace (8-8) will play at District 6 champion Marion County, currently set for 6 EDT.
Taylor Moran was the catalyst for the Lady Seahawks, pitching a two-hitter and going 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the fourth inning and a game-ending single she smashed to the center-field fence with the bases loaded. Moran struck out five and walked two. She also had a steal of home in the third after being hit by a pitch.
After elaborating on Moran's gifts from her talent, to her leadership, to her work ethic, Couch added: "She has the 'it' factor."
Ali Birchfield stepped into the leadoff spot for injured senior Allison Meadows and went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple. She also stole a base and scored a run.
Center fielder Meadows tweaked a knee in a recent practice. Couch is hopeful she'll be available to play Monday.
Elise Pearson also had two hits for Silverdale, which scored in every inning. The Lady Seahawks' other senior, Sara Million, was 1-for-3 with a walk, drove in a run and scored two.
Given Silverdale's 1-7 record in region semifinals, Couch knows things are about to get tougher.
"It goes back to us being focused and doing all the little things in the game," he said. "You want to limit your errors. You know you're going to get solid pitching. You've got to be disciplined at the plate. All the teams are going to be better. The team that plays the best that day is going to win."
Grace Academy coach Tina Walker said she was pleased to see her team gain a region berth, considering she wasn't sure she was going to have a team in 2015. The Lady Golden Eagles had no bench throughout the year, and freshman pitcher Grace Woosley suffered a broken wrist against Boyd-Buchanan late in the regular season.
Payton Cripps, Lauren Pettit and even Alex Smith, a former softball player who had been concentrating on volleyball but returned after Woosley's injury, have combined to pick up the pitching load. Walker had equal praise for Smith and Jessica Bonner.
"I'm really proud of this team," Walker said. "We started the season with nine, but we couldn't play in any tournaments with only nine players. Then our pitcher went down. Two great girls have stepped up and really helped us continue this surge."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.