BRISTOL, Tenn. - Madelyn Dulaney doesn't try to overpower the opposition. She has other ways to get batters out.
"I really just work on spin over speed," said Dulaney, David Crockett's freshman pitcher, who struck out 14, scattered three hits and walked two in leading the Pioneers to a 4-0 District 1-AAA opening round tournament victory over Sullivan East on Friday night at Rotary Park. "I have a really good pitching coach. That helps me a lot and I have an amazing team behind me that make incredible plays."
David Crockett (19-12) pushed across two runs in the first and sixth innings and Dulaney and her defense kept the Patriots off the board to allow the Pioneers to advance to face Elizabethton in a winner's bracket game on Monday. The winner of that game will meet top-seed Tennessee High on Tuesday.
That game can wait for now.
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"We had two matchups with (Tennessee High) this year," David Crockett head coach Alex Dulaney said. "They got us both times, 2-1, and 2-0. Really looking forward to that, but it looks like we have got to a pretty good hitting Elizabethton bunch that we are going to have to deal with on Monday."
Sullivan East will face Unicoi County on Monday in an elimination game. The Blue Devils lost to Elizabethton, 9-1, on Friday.
"We said before the game our goal was to win three before we lose two, that is the goal,' Sullivan East head coach Michael Forrester said.
Dulaney bunted for a single to open the bottom of the first inning, stole second and scored on a single to center by Julie Maupin. Laney Britton added a two-out single to put the Pioneers up 2-0. That would be enough.
"We swung the bats OK tonight," said Alex Dulaney, whose Pioneers had six hits, including two by his daughter, Madelyn, and Maupin. "We did not have a strikeout so that was nice, but we got the hits when we needed them. I really thought we would do a little better, but a little nerves were probably part of it. All in all, my girls had pretty decent approaches. We are excited about Monday and what is coming up."
Raquel Del Prete has been the definition of a workhorse in recent weeks for the Patriots, which just got back the services of Bre Rutledge, who missed three weeks with an illness. Rutledge was able to get in an inning in two games this week, including in the sixth against the Pioneers.
"She is absolutely a workhorse, she is our pitcher," said Forrester, of Del Prete, who scattered six hits, walked none, while her defense committed four errors, compared to one for the Pioneers. "It will be good for Raquel to have somebody there when she starts getting tired and not just have to ride her. She is absolutely a workhorse."
Carly Bradford and Olivia Ashbrook had singles and Brooklyne Loudy had a double for the Patriots, who got runners in scoring position three times. Dulaney was effective hitting the corners, striking out the side three times to stifle any East hopes.
"Her velocity isn't overwhelming. It is good, but it is not overwhelming," Alex Dulaney said. "She likes to spin the ball in all four directions and tonight she was able to do that fairly well. She had really good control out there and she is a gamer. I really like how she competes."
"I am really big on inside pitches," added Madelyn. "I love inside because of late delays and spinning balls. It works out good for me."
Sullivan East, which had beaten Dulaney and the Pioneers, 8-4, last month, couldn't get the big hit when needed on this night, striking out 14 times, including six times on called third strikes.
"Her ball tails away quite a bit so it is catching the front of the outside corner, but they are seeing it as outside," Forrester said. "We actually got to her at our place, but those were missing the outside corner instead of hitting the outside corner so we were able to make her come in and tonight she was hitting that spot just over and over again. We took too many third strikes, but again, I credit her more than I blame us, they were good pitches."
David Crockett, which left runners in scoring position in three innings, got two more runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Eva Marler and a sacrifice fly from Maupin, both of which followed a fielding miscue and a mental error in the field.
"I thought we played real well. One thing we have struggled with late in the season is when we make some mistakes we have really given up huge innings where we kind of collapsed," Forrester said. "I thought we did a great job tonight when we did make those mistakes refocusing and getting out of the innings and keeping ourselves in it. We were in it right to the end. They are a great team, I thought we played really well."
Loudy's double to right-center leading off the sixth to give the Patriots life, but Dulaney retired the next three batters in order. The Patriots also had a runner on third in the first and second in the third, sixth and seventh.
"We couldn't get anything going. I don't think we had more than one runner on in any inning, we had one runner on several times," Forrester said. "I thought we took pretty good swings. We were a little slow, she was throwing a little harder than she threw last time maybe. Whatever the reason was we were a little slow with our bats. I thought we took good at-bats, we just couldn't square enough balls up to get any runs."
Alex Dulaney, who replaced Carla Weems as head coach after last season at David Crockett, watched how she worked with her daughter, Kara, who was a standout in the circle for the Pioneers. He is trying to use those lessons to mentor his own daughter on the softball diamond.
"Personally, I learned a lot from my predecessor, Coach Weems. Her daughter was a big pitcher at Crockett," Alex said. "We have got a great relationship where I have coached her in other things before. We work well together. I am coach out here, not dad."
"I am used to it," said Madelyn, with a smile. "On my travel team he is one of my coaches. It is amazing to have him, he is good."
Sullivan East 000 000 0 - 0 3 4
David Crockett 200 020 x - 4 6 1
Del Prete, Rutledge (6) and Rutledge, Holly (6). Dulaney and Dugger. W-Dulaney; L-Del Prete. HR-none.