MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Soddy-Daisy’s Andie Johnson seemed to think she had the easy part. All she had to do was drive in the winning run.
Her double in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday lifted the Lady Trojans to a 4-3 victory over Riverdale at Starplex No. 1 in the winners-bracket final of the Class AAA high school softball state tournament.
Soddy-Daisy (51-2), ranked No. 7 nationally in the most recent ESPN Rise FAB 50, will play either 20th-ranked Beech (46-5-1) or 24th-ranked Riverdale (56-7-1) in the state final tonight at 7:30 EDT.
The Lady Buccaneers and Lady Warriors will play in the losers-bracket final at 11 a.m. EDT. The teams played early in the season in Hendersonville’s Commando Classic and Beech won 3-1.
Soddy-Daisy’s Brandi Lasley started the bottom of the eighth inning with a single to left field. Then a confident Johnson stepped to the plate after Mariam sacrificed Lasley to second.
“After we executed the bunt, I knew we were going to win,” Johnson said. “You get a hit to start with, then you’ve got to get the bunt down. That’s the hardest part.”
Johnson gladly shared the spotlight Thursday with freshman pitcher Tori Denayer. Staff ace Kelsey Nunley had to have two stitches put in a slice on the middle finger on her pitching hand and was unable to go.
“I think this is going to do a lot for her confidence, and everybody else’s,” Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk said of Denayer. “She’s never been in a situation like this before. The others started gaining confidence as the game went along because she was getting them out.”
Said Johnson: “She did a good job staying focused. She had to be nervous out there. I would be, too.”
Cassidy Hackney went 3-for-4 with a double for the Lady Trojans and scored a run. Lasley was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.