A brief flashback to how hard a team has to work for success never hurt anyone. Just ask Central softball coach LeeAnne Shurette, who clearly thought plenty about preseason workouts (November, to be precise) prior to Tuesday's 10-0 win over Red Bank in the first championship game of the District 6-AA tournament at Red Bank.
The Lady Purple Pounders win forced another battle at 4:30 today for the 6-AA crown. Both teams have qualified for the Region 3 tournament, and today's winner gets to host.
Central (19-16) advanced to the first title game with Red Bank by defeating East Ridge, 4-0, in the losers-bracket final earlier in the afternoon.
The No. 1 seed Lady Pounders had lost 1-0 in eight innings to Red Bank the night before, but their bats awakened Tuesday with nine hits against East Ridge and 13 (including two home runs and a triple) against Red Bank. Central pitcher Brooke Parrott threw her third game in 28 hours and struck out 10 Lady Lions and allowed just one hit.
"This is the team I know. Honestly, I think it was a good wakeup call for us," Shurette said of Monday's loss to Red Bank. "We've been playing well, even yesterday. We played good defensively. We just couldn't get anything going with our bats. And that made the difference today. Today, I feel like we were determined to take our destiny in our hands and make it happen.
"The difference was the atmosphere of our team. The fans are cheering. It was a whole different day. For them to bounce back, I was real proud of their hearts," Shurette added. "You can just lay down and give it up, or you can be like, 'We've been working hard since November.' "
Central jumped to an 8-0 lead with two runs in the first inning and six in the second, forcing Red Bank's starting pitcher Hannah Ward out of the circle. Ward later was seen icing her back and Lady Lions coach Mandi Munn wasn't sure of her outlook for today.
Central's Alexis Grampp, Kerri Sylvester and Reagan Benedict each went 3-for-4 with Grampp slamming a solo home run and Sylvester ripping a two-run homer.