Lady Bulldogs beat two top seeds to reach county title game, force them to play each other to stay alive
CALHOUN COUNTY SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday’s games
At Woodland Park
Piedmont 4, White Plains 3
Alexandria 3, Pleasant Valley 2
Ohatchee 5, Jacksonville 0 (Jacksonville eliminated)
Oxford 10, Weaver 2 (Weaver eliminated)
Pleasant Valley 3, Ohatchee 2 (Ohatchee eliminated)
White Plains 5, Oxford 2 (Oxford eliminated)
Piedmont 3, Alexandria 2
White Plains 7, Pleasant Valley 2 (PV eliminated)
Friday’s games
At Jacksonville State
White Plains vs. Alexandria, 5 p.m.
Championship game: White Plains-Alexandria winner vs. Piedmont, 7 p.m.
If necessary, 9 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
If you simply followed the seeds, Alexandria and White Plains were supposed to be playing for the championship in the Calhoun County softball tournament.
Now, they’re both playing for their tournament lives and third-seeded Piedmont is in the catbird seat.
Piedmont knocked off both of the top two seeds in one-run games — White Plains 4-3 and Alexandria 3-2 — Thursday at Woodland Park to reach the championship round of the county tournament for the first time.
Top-seeded Alexandria (29-7) and No. 2 White Plains (24-5) will now face each other just to stay alive and meet Piedmont back in the 7 p.m. title game at Jacksonville State.
The Lady Bulldogs (13-7) have to win only one game to claim the crown. The other two teams will have to win three, and for White Plains it will be the second day in a row having to play three games if it can get that far.
“It’s a nice place to be, I’ll tell you that,” Piedmont coach Rachel Smith said. “There are some very good teams here. We’re fortunate to be in the position we are right now. We played good ball today.
“Every year we talk about advancing and getting a little bit better and a little bit better and building on what we did the previous year and I think the team has bought into that. They’re very focused on trying to do better than last year’s team. We want to keep the program going in an upward direction and this is a step in that direction.”
They’re already guaranteed of doing better than they did in last year’s county tournament when they finished third.
The Lady Bulldogs edged White Plains in the winner’s bracket semifinals by erupting for four runs in the first inning and then holding on. The Lady Wildcats loaded the bases with none out in the home fifth and plated two runs on a couple infield outs, but Savannah Smith got out the final out to end the game.
In the Alexandria game, winning pitcher Emily Farmer hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fourth and freshman Cayla Brothers broke the tie with a solo homer later in the inning for the game-winner.
“I really thought the game was tied after I hit that; I really didn’t know we were up by one,” Brothers said. “Then one of my friends asked what the score was and they said 3-2 and I felt pretty good after that.
“I knew Emily was a heck of a pitcher and she would just pitch and let her defense play behind her and we would get the win as long as we stayed up and didn’t let them get in our heads thinking we were just up by one.”
Alexandria built a 2-0 lead on Rylee Gattis’ solo homer in the first and RBI double off the fence in the third. Lady Cubs coach Brian Hess took the heat for the night for not having his team as focused as it needed to be.
The Lady Cubs threatened in their last bats, the home fifth. It was Gattis’ double off the wall that prompted Farmer to intentionally walk her with two outs to put the winning run at second. Farmer got the final out on Chloe Gattis’ infield grounder.
“I came to (Smith) after (Gattis) hit it off the fence the second time and said I think the next time she comes up we ought to put her on,” Farmer said. “She’s hit two, they’re sitting on two comfortable runs that came off her two hits, I think we should put her on and see what our defense can do after that.
“I knew my defense could back me up behind me. If I could get something on the ground, they were going to get the out.”
White Plains kept its hopes alive by bouncing back from that loss with a 5-2 victory over Oxford and a 7-2 victory over Pleasant Valley.
The Lady Wildcats trailed Oxford 2-0, then took the lead for good with three in the bottom of the second. Callyn Martin hit two doubles and winning pitcher Leighton Arnold had two hits, including a homer.
The top of White Plains’ lineup went a combined 6-for-10 with four RBIs against Pleasant Valley. They opened a 5-0 lead after two innings, then answered Haylie Lee’s two-run homer in the fourth with two in the bottom of the inning.
White Plains coach Rachel Ford had nothing but praise for the way Piedmont played, but she was equally happy with the way her team bounced back after starting the day with a tough loss.
“I always get nervous when we get a higher seed in anything because the bull’s eye’s on your back and our girls seem to get a little tense and nervous,” she said. “I don’t guess they felt that way, Piedmont just did a good job and beat us. We didn’t play our best game but they played great.
“I got on the team and just explained it’s not the end of the world. Crazier things have happened. We’ve got to rebound quickly and they did. I was proud we rebounded quickly and we didn’t pout and we decided to do something about it.”
Piedmont 000 30 – 3 5 0
Alexandria 101 00 – 2 5 3
WP: Emily Farmer. LP: Rylee Gattis. 2B: Chloe Gattis (A), Rylee Gattis (A). HR: Emily Farmer (P), Cayla Brothers (P), Rylee Gattis (A).
Piedmont 400 00 – 4 6 2
White Plains 100 02 – 3 5 2
WP: Savannah Smith. LP: Jaylee Crow. 2B: Armoni Perry (P), Emma Grace Todd (P), Callie Richardson (WP).
Oxford 110 00 – 2 7 2
White Plains 032 0x – 5 7 1
WP: Leighton Arnold. LP: Berkley Mooney. 2B: Berkley Mooney (O), Kannon Slaughter (O), Callyn Martin 3 (WP). HR: Leighton Arnold (WP).
Pleasant Valley 000 20 – 2 4 5
White Plains 230 2x – 7 7 1
WP: Leighton Arnold. LP: Lily Henry. 2B: Cooper Martin (WP), Callie Richardson (WP). HR: Haylie Lee (PV). [*** read more]
