MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Grace Academy’s Lady Golden Eagles knew about Trinity Christian long before playing the Lady Lions on Tuesday. Grace pitcher Lacye Walker also knew her counterpart well. And of utmost importance, they knew they could win.
Trinity Christian might win another state title, but it will have to come through the losers bracket to do it. Grace beat the Lady Lions 1-0 in eight innings at the McKnight complex.
“We tried to keep them calm as soon as we heard Trinity is who we would be playing,” Grace coach Tina Walker said of how the coaches went about preparing the players. “They’ve won state three out of the last four years.
“We felt like they were the team to beat.”
Grace (31-6) will play East Robertson tonight at about 8 EDT at Starplex No. 4.
Lacye Walker, the daughter of the head coach and her husband Alan, one of Grace’s assistant coaches, seems to have been on a mission this postseason, and that persisted Tuesday. The junior left-hander matched three-hitters with losing pitcher Ellen Renfroe. Both are members of the Tennessee Fury organization in select summer softball. Walker had nine strikeouts and Renfroe had 12.
Walker had been 0-for-3 against Renfroe before hitting the winning single to right-center in the top of the eighth. Sierra Nunaly had reached on an error to start the inning and scored from second base with one out.
“My dad just said, ‘Swing at the first pitch,’ so I did,” Lacye Walker said. “It was a curveball away.”
The Lady Golden Eagles had a chance to score when Trinity Christian made three errors in the third inning, but the last out was a runner thrown out at the plate. Shortstop Kaitlin Eldridge, who along with left fielder Cassidy Pendergraph made key defensive plays in the bottom of the eighth, tripled starting the seventh but ended up stranded.
Tina Walker said now the challenge is guarding against a letdown.
“We can’t allow that to happen,” she said. “We’ve got to come out focused like we haven’t played a game.”