The light switch is officially back on for the Central Lady Pounders softball team.
After limping into the postseason with eight losses in their final 10 regular-season games, the Lady Pounders are suddenly the team that came within two outs of playing for a Class AA state title last season.
Central (20-17) rode the hot hand of junior pitcher Brooke Parrott and even hotter bat of catcher Reagan Benedict to dispose of Polk County, 2-0, in Monday's Region 3-AA semifinal before a raucous crowd on the Lady Pounders' home diamond. It was the third year in a row that Central ended Polk County's season.
"Hey, it's the postseason," said Parrott, who recorded her third shutout and fifth double-digit-strikeout game since the playoffs began.
"I don't know what it is, but we have a lot of fight and we have been looking forward to the playoffs despite our record. We have a lot of experience on this team and I knew we would go to war once we got here."
Central recorded its 12th shutout of the season, Parrott pitching most of them. She struck out 11 Lady Wildcats and allowed just two hits and three baserunners.
She twice worked out of jams with the 2-0 lead. In the fifth, she gave up a lazy-liner single by Hannah Triplett and a hard double by Britlee Ogle to put runners on third and second with no outs but got a tapper back to her and two strikeouts to end the threat.
In the seventh, the leadoff hitter reached via error, but Parrott struck out the final two hitters to advance Central into Wednesday's 5 p.m. region final. The Lady Pounders (20-17) will host District 6 mate Red Bank, which defeated 5-AA champ Sequoyah 9-1.
"After they got the two hits, I went out to the mound and they just looked at me and said, 'We've got this, Coach,'" said Central coach LeeAnne Shurette. "This is a good bunch of girls and they have had this in them all along. I'm just happy to see them putting it together."
Central scored in the first inning after Alexis Grampp singled with two outs. An errant pickoff attempt sailed into right field, and the hustling Grampp came all the way around for the first run. In the fourth Benedict opened with the second of her three doubles and scored easily on Kerri Sylvester's double.
Polk County hit only two hard balls. Lexie Ainslie corralled Ogle's double in the gap and threw a strike to the cutoff, forcing Triplett to hold up at third. Aubrie Bowman had the other shot, launching a deep fly to right that Emma Beach tracked down.
"We are just clicking in all phases: timely hitting, defense and pitching," Shurette said. "They are having fun. The crowd is having fun, and we are doing what I felt we could all along."
Benedict is one of two additions to last year's state squad, and the senior transfer has seven doubles in postseason play.
"I'm just seeing it well right now," she said. "The team has really welcomed me in, and I feel like a part of them now. This is a really good team, and I'm happy to be a part of it."
Polk County ends officially at 2-32 after having 29 wins forfeited prior to postseason.
* Red Bank 9, Sequoyah 1: At Madisonville, Tenn., Hannah Wood pitched a four-hitter and added two hits for the Lady Lions. Olivia Dillard went 3-for-4 and led them with three RBIs.
Region 4-AA
At Livingston, Tenn., Livingston County shut out Sequatchie County 3-0. At Smithville, Tenn., DeKalb County took down CCS 8-0.
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com.