Maybe it was a premonition. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Either way, what Central softball coach LeeAnne Shurette said to her troops after watching her team play five lifeless innings in Monday’s Region 3-AA high school softball semifinal proved to be prophetic.
“I said, ‘Hannah Powell is going to score. Who’s going to hit her in?'” Shurette said.
It turned out to be Kaitlyn Sowder, who drove in another with her sixth-inning single that erased the slim lead Polk County had been nursing since the first inning. The home team tacked on two more runs during the rally and defeated the Wildkittens 4-1.
Central (25-10) will play at Meigs County on Wednesday in the region final at 6 p.m. Both teams will advance to a state sectional Friday with the winner playing at home and the runner-up playing on the road.
Aside from Sowder, who also had hits in her first two at-bats, the Lady Purple Pounders had been mostly stagnant offensively all game. Powell led off the winning rally by grounding a hard single through the left side.