WHITWELL, Tenn. - When Whitwell softball center fielder Maddie Jordan's older sister made her wedding plans last summer, setting the date for the last weekend of this May, Lady Tigers coach Rebecca Castle joked that it was bad timing.
"I tried to tell her all the way back when she set that date last year that we would be playing in the state tournament at that time and she wouldn't have Maddie around," Castle said Friday with a smile.
Castle's young team made that prediction a reality Friday evening with an 8-3 win over visiting Watertown in a Class A sectional. The win earns the Lady Tigers (22-9) a trip to next week's Spring Fling state tournament for the first time in four years, and it made Jordan's sister, Hannah Davis, one nervous bride-to-be.
"She should've listened," Castle joked. "Now she won't have one of her bridesmaids for the rehearsal on Friday."
Whitwell, 6-0 since the postseason began, got all its runs in the second inning, most of the damage coming off Watertown's three errors, including a two-out misplay that opened the door for six runs that followed.
The Lady Tigers' first run also scored on an error, and Layla McEwen followed with an RBI fielder's choice. With two outs Watertown's shortstop dropped a pop fly, allowing two Whitwell runners to score. The Lady Tigers bats followed with four consecutive hits, including two-run singles by Carley Long and Camryn Haag.
"There were some stressful innings after that, but that inning was obviously huge for us," said Long, the only senior on the Whitwell roster. "It feels like everything was set up to fall into place for us this year. We hosted the district tournament, the region and the sectional, and now we're going to Murfreesboro."
Other than a three-run third inning by the visitors, pitcher Anna Yell made the lead stand by striking out eight. Whitwell collected 10 total hits.
"Hitting is contagious, and once we got an extra chance in that second inning it only took one hit to get everybody going," Castle said. "This group is driven. They're young but they've got a goal, and they're going after it.
"I think I'm more excited for them getting to the state tournament than I was in the three years we went when I played here."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.