Spring Fling
MURFREESBORO – If their first two games of the tournament are any indicator, Friday’s 3 p.m. Division II-A softball second state title game between Friendship Christian and the King’s Academy could be chalk full of drama.
Kings Academy needed eight innings and a late offensive spark to defeat defending state champion Friendship Christian 6-4 Friday at the Starplex in Murfreesboro to force a second title game later today.
It was the seventh time this season the two teams have met, and King’s Academy now holds a 4-3 advantage.
“That’s just two championship teams going at it,” Friendship coach Jody Atwood said. “It’s just going to come down to making plays.”
Friendship went into the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 3-2, but an infield single followed by back-to-back bunt singles allowed Sydney McCormick to score the tying run on an error.
The Lady Commanders had a chance to walk-off with their second consecutive state title, but Riley Walker hit a line shot to shortstop Haydyn Jenkins, who caught the ball and doubled-up the runner on first to get King’s Academy out of the jam.
“Softball is a game of inches,” Atwood said. That ball goes a foot or two to the left then we score and we win. Bottom line is you’ve got to shake it off because we’ve got another game and the scoreboard says 0-0.”
The Lady Lions didn’t wait long to put that momentum to use.
After Heather Foreman popped out, Katelyn Norris laced a ball down the third base line that turned into an inside-the-park homerun, then a fielder’s choice and an illegal pitch pushed the score to 6-3.
Shelby Brice Dabbs hit a lead-off homer for Friendship in the bottom of the eighth it make it 6-4, but that was all the Lady Commanders could muster.
“We’re going to give it our A-game and we know they’re going to give it their A-game, Atwood said. “We’ll see what happens.”