MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - An assortment of pulled muscles, tweaked joints, aching ankles and perhaps even a dose of bruised ego came together Thursday evening for the Girls Preparatory School softball team.
They are, after all, the Bruisers, and they shelved the various injuries, climbing back together and crawling all over St. Benedict for a six-inning, 14-4 victory.
The win puts GPS once again in an all-Chattanooga Division II-AA state championship game against Baylor. The game is to commence at 1:30 EDT this afternoon.
"We're a little banged up but we're not going to make any excuses. We'll bring what we have and do what we can do tomorrow," elated GPS coach Susan Crownover said.
GPS slammed 18 hits, including a second-inning two-run homer from Lilly Burger.
It was Burger who took the brunt of Crownover's fiery, competitive attitude in the first inning for halting at third base when Crownover had waved her on. In her next at-bat, Burger scored from home with the shot over the right-center-field fence.
"It's been a long time since we had that many hits, and we haven't hit it well lately," Crownover said. "Our timing has been off and it's taken some time to get it back. We struggled (earlier Thursday) against Baylor, and maybe we'll play better tomorrow."
The Bruisers leaned heavily on pitcher Hannah Kincer, who rallied after St. Benedict tied the game 4-4 in the third.
Kincer, one of those who already was ailing, collided with a teammate going after a bunt attempt - and got a sore jaw for her effort - but she picked up the ball and threw out the batter before dropping to the ground. In the fifth, she struck out the side.
"The team backed me up and kept me up, because they knew I was hurting," the sophomore said. "Through the hits, through the walks, they were there for me, and my coaches really helped keep me in focus. They reminded me to play ball like we know how to play, and my defense backed me up.
"We've had a couple of weeks off and we were rusty, and I think we responded to the loss to Baylor."
Sydney White was 4-for-4 for GPS, and Kaitlyn Songer went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Seven Bruisers had at least two hits, and none of them were hitless.