Baylor pitcher Aaliyah Henderson said she knew Wednesday she would be starting the second game of Thursday's home doubleheader against Brentwood Academy in the best-of-three series in the TSSAA Division II-AA state playoffs.
Then after Baylor won the opener 10-0 in six innings, the sophomore right-hander went out and gave up a first-inning run. And as game two progressed, it was almost as though she took out some frustration with her bat.
Almost.
Henderson said that wasn't the case, but nonetheless she homered twice in the second game - one a grand slam, the other a three-run blast - and the Lady Red Raiders won 17-1 in three innings.
Baylor (34-4) moves on to a winners-bracket semifinal in next week's double-elimination state tournament at Murfreesboro.
With the Lady Eagles as the home team in the second game, Jessie Brown led off the bottom of the first with an infield single. She moved up on a sacrifice, and after a flyout Mattie Lynn Hale singled her in.
"It happens," Henderson said, shrugging it off.
Her first home run came the next inning and made it 3-1. Her other was the second grand slam during a 14-run third inning. Trinity Liner had the first, and they were Nos. 8 and 9 in the batting order.
"With our power and our speed, it seems like it's somebody different every game that hits the home run or the double we need," Baylor coach Kelli Smith said. "That's what's nice about this lineup."
The Lady Raiders' big rally also included A.J. Johnson's three-run homer and Crosby Huckabay's two-run shot - her 18th home run of the season. University of Kentucky freshman Lauren Lewis set Baylor's previous single-season school record with 11 homers.
Cheyenne Lindsey was 3-for-3 at the top of the order and scored a run. Mari Gardner was 2-for-2 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Huckabay and Kamrie Rich were each 2-for-3.
Abby McNamara was 2-for-3 in the first game. She, Johnson, Huckabay and Rich each drove in two runs in the opener.
Huckabay had a double in that game and Johnson and Lindsey joined McNamara by scoring two runs each. Kayla Hughes threw a three-hitter and contributed a solo home run in Baylor's 23rd consecutive victory.
"We're playing amazing," Henderson said. "We've been on it lately."
The last loss was to GPS on April 12.
"After the GPS loss we've played really good softball since," Smith said. "Back in March when everybody else had played 20 games and we'd played five or six, I told the girls, 'Just be patient. We're going to play a lot of softball in April, hopefully a lot of good softball,' hoping that would lead us into the postseason.
"I think we're hitting the ball well. The defense is playing well. I think we've prepared as well as we can."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.