History at State: Sale Creek's softball Lady Panthers advance to spring fling for first time

Sale Creek runner Jordan Duncan beats the tag by Jackson County catcher Tiffany Kellum to steal home during the Lady Panthers' state sectional softball game against Jackson County on Friday, May 15, 2015, at Sale Creek High School in Sale Creek, Tenn. Sale Creek won 18-2.
Sale Creek runner Jordan Duncan beats the tag by Jackson County catcher Tiffany Kellum to steal home during the Lady Panthers' state sectional softball game against Jackson County on Friday, May 15, 2015, at Sale Creek High School in Sale Creek, Tenn. Sale Creek won 18-2.

Legendary softball coach Clifford Kirk has been to the state tournament. It's old hat for him.

But his Sale Creek squad has never made the trip.

It will next week.

The Lady Panthers defeated Jackson County 18-2 in less than four innings of a Class A sectional Friday and became the first softball squad in school history to reach the Spring Fling.

"We're so young they don't know they're not supposed to be there," said Kirk, whose celebratory plans for the weekend include the possibility of sleeping a little later than normal. "They've accomplished quite a bit."

Sale Creek starting pitcher McKenna Morgan earned the win in the circle, went 4-for-4 and drove in six runs, including three with a triple in the bottom of the third inning.

"Tonight was so much fun," Morgan said. "We stayed together and played the way we know how. It's amazing being the first team in school history to go to state."

The Lady Panthers (20-13) made school history by pelting pitches from Jackson County pitcher Destiny Breedlove all over the park and advancing on the bases when the Blue Devils (10-10) made mistakes in the field, including seven errors.

"We've struggled at times defensively this year," Jackson County associate head coach Chris Cassetty said. "We gave them too many chances. We didn't play our best ball. We have to make sure we don't let one mistake turn into four.

"We're young and we'll get better."

The Lady Panthers are youthful, too. Kirk regularly plays eight eighth-graders in a game and started five Friday.

"We had to spend a lot of time indoors early in the year, and maybe that's a good thing, because we worked on a lot of fundamentals," Kirk said.

He later asked the players if they felt any different after the game than they did before. One player chimed out, "We feel like champions!"

Then Kirk broke the news that there will be more practice before the Lady Panthers continue their chase for a state championship on Tuesday in Murfreesboro.

"We have to practice and get ready for Tuesday," said lone senior Jordan Duncan, who reached base in all four plate appearances, drove in two and ended the game with a run-scoring triple. "Once we got it rolling tonight, it was fun."

Morgan opened the game by throwing five straight pitches out of the strike zone. Kirk called for time to settle down his junior pitcher. Two batters later, Breedlove crushed a pitch over the left-field fence for a 2-0 lead.

"She was tight and I think that affected her," Kirk said.

Morgan never allowed another hit.

"Even I was shaking pretty good before the game," Duncan said. "It was nice to finally relax and hit the ball."

Sale Creek scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and twice again in the bottom of the second to take a 4-2 lead to the third inning.

The Lady Panthers scored 10 runs in the bottom of the third with Morgan's triple delivering three. Every batter in the lineup -- or a courtesy runner -- scored in the third frame.

Mary Vandergriff, an eighth-grader, opened the fourth inning with a triple. Mikah McCombs followed with a walk. Then Morgan drove in two with a double, Kaleigh Cooper doubled her home and Duncan tripled, forcing the umpire to declare, "Game over."

"I'm pretty excited," said Cooper, a junior catcher. "I'm going to celebrate by watching friends graduate. And maybe we'll all go swimming."

Sale Creek is in the deep end of the pool for the first time in school history.

* Meigs County 9, University School of Johnson City 0: Ashley Rogers pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts, Lindsey Ward homered and Kaley Meadows and Madison Crabtree each batted in two runs as the Lady Tigers secured their spot at Murfreesboro. Meadows tripled and doubles for Meigs (28-6).

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP

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