Ansley Blevins hit her second high school varsity home run Tuesday. She doesn't remember what team the first one was against, but that won't be the case this time.
GPS scored all of its runs against Division II-AA East/Middle Region rival Baylor in the fourth inning, capped by Blevins' three-run shot, and the Bruisers defeated the Lady Red Raiders 4-3 at GPS.
GPS (26-2, 13-1) has region games remaining today in the midstate against Harpeth Hall and Lipscomb, but regardless of those outcomes, Baylor (29-3, 15-1) will be the region's top-seeded team in the state tournament. The fourth tiebreaker is runs scored against head-to-head, and the Lady Raiders had beaten the Bruisers 5-3 earlier in the season.
Baylor has played in eight consecuitve state finals, winning six, while GPS has played in a state final 12 of the last 13 years, winning five. Playing close games against each other is the norm, and postseason or regular season, it's always a big stage.
"That was a big moment for her," Baylor coach Kelli Smith said of Blevins, one of three eighth-graders in the Bruisers' lineup. "A lot of times it's not the big seniors. A lot of times it's like a Blevins. It's somebody different."
Baylor was leading 1-0 going to the fourth after having manufactured a run in the first inning like so many times in senior Cheyenne Lindsey's career. She reached on an infield single, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Sophie Piskos' groundout.
GPS tied it in the fourth when Hannah Sanders' long single to the fence in right-center scored a runner from first base. After Abbie Reel reached on an error, Blevins came to bat and sent a drive over the fence in left field. Her father, Jamie, ended up with the ball, just as he did with her other home run.
"I was thinking with two people on that I wanted to do my best to try to hit the ball to the opposite field," said Blevins, a right-hander. "Obviously that didn't happen. I just really wanted to at least try to get a run in."
Kamrie Rich and Acelynn Sellers had run-scoring singles for the Lady Raiders in the sixth, but winning pitcher Shelby Walters was able to finish it off in the seventh.
"We played a little bit better," GPS coach Susan Crownover said in comparison to the earlier meeting. "The defense played pretty well. Shelby didn't get hit hard. Maybe one or two balls. And that was a big hit for Ansley. That gave us some separation after we finally tied it."
Walters did not allow a walk and had seven strikeouts.
"I thought she threw well," Crownover said. "She hit a lot of spots, up, down. She worked hard. That's what she does, and that's what we want."
The leadoff batters were the only players in the game with two hits each - Lindsey for the Lady Raiders and Elizabeth Warwick for GPS.
Right fielder Ashton Bazzell helped keep Baylor in the game with her three assists. Two helped retire runners at the plate, and she had another backing up a play at first base.
"Until the last pitch, we made everybody hold their breath," Smith said. "I'm really, really pleased with the determination, effort and fight we showed out there."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.