Sequoyah softball coach Courtney Self chuckled after seeing her team end its season in the Region 3-AA semifinals for the first time since 2001, thanks to Central's 10-4 purple pounding Monday night.
"That inning," she forced a smile. "That has sort of been our motto all year long. One big inning seems to get in our way."
The Lady Pounders (18-14) all but decided the outcome with a seven-run, eight-hit fourth. It was the third loss in the last week in which the Lady Chiefs gave up at least seven runs in an inning.
Central will host Polk County, a 10-6 winner over Red Bank, for the region crown Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Central's Brooke Parrott pitches against Red Bank at East Ridge High School."It took us a few innings to get the bats going, but once we settled in they did what they are capable of doing," said Central coach LeeAnne Shurette. "We have played all year to get to this point so we could host the region finals. We were a little jittery at first, and we made some aggressive mistakes on defense, but we will fix those things in practice."
Central totaled 15 hits while sophomore pitcher Brooke Parrott was allowing only five, with six strikeouts. Parrott also hit a three-run double in the big inning.
"Once I finally relaxed after the first inning, I stopped worrying about them and more about me," said Parrott, who walked a batter and hit another in the first. "I tend to feed off of my pitching when it comes to hitting, and I'll just say my spirits were uplifted by the time I hit in the fourth."
Kaili Crawley had given Central an early 1-0 lead on a bloop double to score Parrott, who had walked.
Emma Beach, who like Crawley had three hits on the night, led off the fourth with a double that seemed to rattle Sequoyah pitcher Hannah Lay. She hit the next batter, misplayed a bunt and walked in two runs with the bases loaded before Parrott unloaded them. Alexis Grampp and Crawley followed with RBI hits.
Beach followed with a perfect squeeze bunt, and Ally Welch singled in the final run of the inning.
"Emma has been seeing it and hitting it really well, but I was most proud of the bunt. Those are the things that will decide close games," Shurette said.
Central added an insurance run on Grampp's RBI double in the fifth and almost run-ruled Sequoyah, but the Lady Chiefs got out of the inning and scored three runs in their final two at-bats.
"First time we have been in the region in 14 years and only third time in our history. I liked our fight," Self said. "It's one step at a time, and hopefully we can take another one next year."
Central guaranteed itself a spot in Friday's sectional round, which is where its road ended last season.
"We still have some business to take care of," Shurette said. "We've checked some things off the list, but we are not satisfied with today's win. It was nice, but we have some other things on the menu."
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com.