The tension surrounding the District 6-AA softball winners-bracket final Monday at Hixson suddenly lifted as Central's bottled-up offense finally exploded.
A tight pitchers' duel with East Ridge was the story for nearly six full innings before the Lady Purple Pounders scored seven runs - all with two outs - in the bottom of the sixth to secure an 8-0 win.
"I was not really happy with the bats until the last inning," Central coach LeeAnne Shurette said. "We've worked hard on being disciplined in the zone, and we didn't do that very well, and their pitcher did a great job keeping us off kilter. We tried to get some things going with some bunts. The ball just didn't bounce our way there, but it came together in the sixth."
Until then, Brooke Parrott had carried the load for the Lady Pounders, providing the only run with an RBI groundout and dominating in the pitching circle. She racked up 18 strikeouts in seven innings while allowing two hits and a walk.
Parrott struck out the side five times and had separate streaks of six and seven consecutive punch-outs.
"We know if we get one or two runs, we have a good chance with her out there," Shurette said. "We'd like to have more, of course, but it's nice to have her strikeout potential and know that we can get out of certain situations."
Parrott's first-inning groundout scored Ina Henderson, who walked and reached third after a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. It was the game's only run until the sixth inning, as East Ridge's Sabrina Thompson kept Central hitters off balance by mixing speeds, and her defense diffused several threats.
"I think we did really well under pressure today," said Lady Pioneers coach Kerilyn Mongar, Shurette's sister. "We stepped up in both games when the other teams had opportunities. I think there at the end we just got a little drained from playing two games."
Central's first two hitters reached in the sixth and got in scoring position, but after a popup, East Ridge center fielder Mya Adams held a runner at third with a strong throw to prevent a potential sacrifice fly.
The Lady Pounders didn't squander the chance, however. Cassidy Simms walked to load the bases, and Amanda Roy came through with a run-scoring single up the middle. The next four batters added two-out singles to tack on.
Henderson and Kerri Sylvester singled up the middle ahead of Parrott, who ripped a shot into left field that went all the way to the fence on an error, allowing her to round the bases. Mikayla Gill added another single, but a foul-out ended the inning.
"We needed a little insurance," Shurette said. "It was good not having that pressure going into the last inning."
Sylvester, Gill and Simms had multiple hits in the contest, with Sylvester adding two RBIs.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com