Prep SoftballMURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Two high school softball teams scored one run each in the top halves of first innings against Silverdale Baptist Academy on Thursday, and those teams ended up paying a heavy price.
The Lady Seahawks' answers to those early one-run deficits was a combined 16 runs scored in the bottom halves of those innings. SBA beat Huntingdon 16-3 in five innings and Midway 12-2 in six in the losers bracket of the TSSAA Class A state tournament at Starplex.
SBA (40-4) is scheduled to play Marion County (36-8) in the losers-bracket final at 10 a.m. EDT today at Starplex. The winner advances to the 3 p.m. championship against Meigs County (39-3) and will need two victories against the Lady Tigers to win the title. If necessary, that second game would be played at approximately 6:30.
After Huntingdon scored off SBA pitcher Shelby Duggard to start the losers-bracket quarterfinal, the Lady Seahawks came in and rallied for 10 runs. They sent 14 to bat in the bottom of the first, when they had eight hits and were aided by four errors.
Midway scored off Emily Harkleroad at the start of the next game, but SBA answered with six runs, capped by Kaili Crawley's three-run homer.
In both of SBA's first innings, Ali Birchfield led off with a single.
"Not one person is going to do it all," said Birchfield, who finished the day 6-for-9 with three runs scored and three stolen bases. "We're just trying to get as many hits as we can and score as many runs as we can.
"I think we're at the top of our game right now."
The Lady Seahawks had 17 hits in each game. They were helped by six errors by Huntingdon and five by Midway.
"Some of those balls were hit hard," SBA coach Tim Couch said. "It's tough being 60 feet away, or 50 if you're playing up. I don't know if that was it, but we have been able to put pressure on people."
Conversely, SBA made one error Thursday.
"With the exception of Tuesday night against Meigs, we've done pretty good," Couch said of how his team has played in the field since its opening-round loss at the tournament.
"We've been able to overcome some errors with our bats, which is not what you want to do, but we have that ability."
Taylor Moran joined Birchfield with a 6-for-9 performance Thursday. Moran had a double, four RBIs and five runs scored.
In addition to her homer against Midway, Crawley had a grand slam against Huntingdon. She finished the day 4-for-8 with eight RBIs and four runs scored.
Duggard was the winning pitcher with a four-hitter with no walks in the first game, when she went 4-for-4 with two RBIs.
Couch said Harkleroad was a little sick but didn't want to miss her opportunity to pitch. Three of the six hits she allowed were in the sixth, when Midway scored its second run.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.