Alicia Raymond accomplished a lot of things as a softball player at Walker Valley High School, but she likely achieved a personal first Wednesday night.
Raymond was named the player of the game after earning the win and save in the first game of the 18th annual Stump On Sports Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Softball Classic at Frost Stadium, part of a 5-4, 9-7 sweep of the doubleheader.
Raymond, after going the first four innings and allowing one hit and no runs, pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in relief, again throwing shutout ball on one hit.
Tennessee scored two unearned runs in the first inning and made it 4-0 in the second on Brooke Hale’s RBI single and a passed ball. Hale, voted the overall Classic MVP, added another RBI hit in the fourth to make it 5-0 before Georgia rallied with three hits and two runs in the fifth.
Paula Pickett’s one-out, two-run double in the sixth made it 5-4, causing Tennessee coach Kelli Smith to bring Raymond back in. After getting a strikeout for the second out, Hannah Jones reached on an error, but Pickett overran the bag at third and was tagged out to end the threat.
Raymond allowed only an infield single to Tiffany Holland (her third hit) in the seventh to complete the rare win-save.
Tennessee jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of the second game with four consecutive hits, including an RBI single from future University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player Alyssa Coppinger and Allie Jones’ two-run single. After Georgia got two runs back in the third, Tennessee stretched it back to a four-run lead in the third on Emma Brooks’ two-run double, an inning in which Georgia coach Steve Chattin was ejected for arguing a pair of calls.
Georgia again rallied in the fourth with three runs to chase Tennessee starter Emily Edwards, the big blow a two-run single by Victoria Day. However, Tennessee assumed control with three runs in the fourth, led by two more doubles from Hale and Coppinger.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.