“The zone” is a mindset an athlete reaches when he or she is so in tuned with what they’re doing, they make the game they’re playing look easy. Lacye Walker was in “the zone” Wednesday.
From pitch to pitch, whether throwing them from the pitching circle or looking at them from the batter’s box, Walker was dialed in. Her performance carried Grace Academy to a 6-0 victory over Marion County and earned the Lady Golden Eagles’ second consecutive Region 3-A high school softball championship.
Grace Academy (29-6) is scheduled to host Gordonsville in Friday’s state-sectional round, formerly the sub-state. Marion County (32-13) will play at Friendship Christian, which defeated Gordonsville 11-6 for the Region 4 title.
“This time of year we know it can start to become a long season, but we wanted district, we wanted region, and now we want sub-state,” Grace coach Tina Walker said. “We want to go all the way, but we know each step we take, each team is going to be a little bit better. Marion County has a good team.”
A 15-game winning streak coming in for the District 6 champion Lady Warriors would help solidfy the coach’s statement, but they proved to be no match for her daughter Wednesday. Her focus was such that when asked if it fazed her at all when she lost her perfect game in the sixth inning, she shrugged and said she was unaware she had been throwing one.
“I wanted to win,” the junior left-hander said of the only thing she cared about.
The hit that broke up the perfect game was Kacie McClendon’s two-out line drive, and because she hustled down the line she was able to barely beat the throw to first from right fielder Erika Goodman. Brooke Baxter followed with an infield single, but that was the only other Lady Warrior to reach.
Coach Walker said she stressed to her players at their most recent practice about taking outside-corner pitches the opposite way. Lacye, who bats right-handed, doubled to deep right leading off the bottom of the first.
She added an RBI double to right-center in the fourth and rifled a run-scoring double into the left-field corner in the sixth. Her groundout in the second also drove in a run.
“She was focused,” Tina Walker said. “She was pumped and ready to go. Just from talking to her, I felt like she was going to be on today.”
Walker struck out 15, and McClendon’s hit was the only time a Grace outfielder handled the ball.
“Lacye was absolutely amazing,” Marion County coach Thomas Long said. “She had us off balance, had us guessing with ourselves. She was great, phenomenal. That’s all you can say.
The Lady Golden Eagles got an RBI each on Lexie Dean’s infield single in the sixth, Goodman’s fielder’s choice in the second and Kaitlyn Eldridge’s groundout in the first. Sierra Nunaly was 2-for-2, hit by a pitch and scored two runs.
Marion County’s graduation has been moved to Friday because of the recent automobile-related deaths of a student and former student who were brothers. First baseman Paige Durham is the Lady Warriors’ only senior.
“We’re still alive,” Long said. “Our fate is in our own hands. If we want to go to Murfreesboro, we’ll regroup, focus and go out Friday and get the job done.”