Ally Welch came into the Central High School softball family as the lone freshman and will depart it as the Lady Purple Pounders' lone senior. She knew this all along, but her only question was where and when, and that question got answered Friday night.
Central dominated visiting Macon County in a Class AA sectional, run-ruling the Tigerettes 10-0 in five innings to advance into next week's state tournament in Murfreesboro.
"I knew that tonight could be my last game in this uniform, but our goal all along has been Murfreesboro, and it just seemed like that was the right place to put it on for a final time," said Welch, who singled and scored in Central's four-run fourth inning.
It will be the first state tourney appearance for Central since 2011, the year before Welch arrived. The Lady Pounders lost in a sectional last year.
"It is nice to get past this hump after last year. I could not be happier for these girls," said Central coach LeeAnn Shurette. "We are going to Murfreesboro, and we are not going to visit. We are going there to win it."
Even with eight underclassmen starters, the Lady Pounders (20-14) have won eight games in a row. They are 7-0 in the postseason, having outscored the opposition 58-10.
Sophomore Brooke Parrott has been the winning pitcher in six of the seven and again was dominating Friday, limiting Macon County (16-12) to a leadoff triple by Paige Clark on the game's second pitch. Parrott allowed just two baserunners and struck out five.
"I knew once we got to postseason the hitters would be better and I needed to make better pitches," Parrott said. "I've had a more positive attitude and more focus, and our defense has been superb behind me."
Central has made a living with its offense, too, in the current run. Every Lady Pounders starter had a hit in Friday's 14-hit assault, Parrott leading the charge there too with a double, a home run and a two-run single.
"I knew if our bats showed up we would be in good shape," Shurette said. "The girls did what we have asked them to do, and that's to their credit tonight. We aren't backing down from anyone, and that's been the biggest difference I see in the team."
Central scored twice in the first inning after Parrott kept Clark at third with two infield pop-ups and a strikeout. In fact, Parrott got seven infield popouts in the game, in contrast to her 16-strikeout region final two nights earlier.
Alexis Grampp tripled in Parrott in the first, and Kaili Crawley followed with a single for the 2-0 lead. Parrott's homer extended it to 3-0 in the third, and the four-run fourth all but sealed the deal. Emma Beach, Welch and Tatum Morgan began it with singles, Beach scoring on an outfield error before Samantha Scott doubled off the fence and Parrott drove in two with her single.
Central ended the game early with three runs in the fifth. Crawley and Lexie Ainslie singled and Kerri Sylvester doubled in two runs. Morgan's single up the middle pushed across the final run and set off the celebration.
"We have been through so much this year and learned so much along the way," Shurette said. "There have been some tough lessons, but all of them are important to us being where we are. It's a great feeling for these girls and the parents.
"We lost Terry Roy, who has two granddaughters on the team, to cancer a couple of years ago, and he was one of our biggest supporters. Tonight was for him. I know he is looking down smiling and will be with us next week."
* DeKalb County 6, Polk County 4: Polk's season ended on the road with a sixth-inning grand slam carrying DeKalb to victory. The Briana Muller was 2-for-3 with a homer and pitcher Hannah Triplett was 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI for the Lady Wildcats (20-9), who outhit the home team 8-6 but made three errors, including one ahead of the slam.
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com.