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SYNC Night @ Travs' Game
SYNC sponsored the Arkansas Travelers baseball game Wednesday, July 25
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Spring Fling 2015 live coverage
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Rain smeared the eye-black of the Sale Creek softball players -- not tears.
They're still alive in the Class A state softball tournament and they're in town one night longer during the first trip to Spring Fling in school history.
Forrest beat the Lady Panthers 6-1 on Wednesday night just before a second shower of the day pelted the StarPlex Complex.
"It's a relief knowing that we still have another day," said Jordan Duncan, the only senior on Sale Creek's roster. "Forrest is a good team, and a few mistakes cost us."
The Lady Panthers (21-14) will play East Robertson this morning at 11. A win would advance them to another losers-bracket game at 5.
"We were supposed to go all the way to the finals, and that would be fine," Sale Creek coach Clifford Kirk said. "Somebody said we'd lose this one, win the next one, win the next one and be in the finals.
"That's still the game plan."
Forrest pitcher Katie Warrick limited the Lady Panthers to four hits but had only one strikeout. Sale Creek's McKenna Morgan allowed four earn runs and fought out of sticky situations until the fifth inning, when Katie Warrick provided Forrest with a 5-1 lead.
"We hit it right to them and they threw us out," Kirk said. "We learned some lessons tonight."
* Adamsville 5, Meigs County 1: Meigs' Lady Tigers ended the season with 19 strikeouts against Gabby Morris.
Only two of the 21 outs recorded by the Lady Cardinals weren't recorded by Morris -- a flyout to third base and a sacrifice bunt.
"We couldn't put it in play," said Meigs coach Jeff Davis, whose team collected six hits and three walks. "Both days we were here we never got the big hit."
The Lady Tigers (28-8) started five freshmen from their first game of the year and reached the state tournament with one senior.
"If you're here, you've had a good year," Davis said. "We exceeded what we expected."
* Grace Christian 7, Marion County 5: Knoxville Grace's first three batters against Erica O'Kane all reached base. And they all eventually scored, putting the Lady Warriors in a 3-0 deficit before touching a bat.
Grace stranded two runners in the next two innings, and Marion County scored twice in the bottom of the fourth. Taylor Kennedy walked and scored on a passed ball. Erin O'Leary reached on a dropped third strike and scored on a double by Harlie Jordan.
Grace responded with four runs in the fifth for a 7-2 lead. The Lady Rams did not have an extra-base hit in the game.
Marion scored one run in each of the final three innings. Kelsey Barnett doubled in Makayla Dalton, O'Kane tripled home Jordan and Kelsey Barnett homered to center in the seventh.
The Lady Warriors will face Adamsville today at 12:30, and a win would have them playing again at 5.
Division II-AA
* GPS 11, Pope John Paul II 4: The final rainstorm of the night ended the Bruisers' victory at five complete innings.
They flipped the script from 24 hours earlier, when they lost 11-1 to Baylor.
GPS scored five runs in the top of the first inning and sixth in the third inning. The Bruisers were three outs away from winning 10-0 before Pope John Paul II scored three times in the fifth.
Hannah Kincer hit a three-run homerun in the first to start the GPS barrage. Hannah Sanders went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Lilly Berger also was 2-for-4.
GPS will face the loser between Baylor and St. Benedict today at 6:30.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP
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Concert for "Safe Places"
a concert to benefit "Safe Places" was held at the Governor's Mansion Grand Hall Tuesday night.