Gardner homer helps Baylor edge GPS for state title

May 23, 2015 at 1:00 a.m. | Updated May 22, 2015 at 10:53 p.m.

by David Uchiyama

Baylor players wait at the plate to celebrate with teammate Mari Gardner after Gardner's go-ahead homer in the 4th inning of Baylor's 6-4 win over GPS in their D-II AA state softball tournament championship game at the TSSAA Spring Fling in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Thursday, May 21, 2015,
Baylor players wait at the plate to celebrate with teammate Mari Gardner after Gardner's go-ahead homer in the 4th inning of Baylor's 6-4 win over GPS in their D-II AA state softball tournament championship game at the TSSAA Spring Fling in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Thursday, May 21, 2015,

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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Mari Gardner has been part of the Baylor School softball inner circle. She's part of what they preach to be "17 Strong."

The junior joined a new Lady Red Raiders club at the perfect moment -- in the Division II-AA state championship game.

Gardner hit a fourth-inning solo home run that put the Lady Raiders ahead in what became a 6-4 win over Girls Preparatory School in the title game Friday.

She's now a part of the "Bomb Squad."

"I'd never hit a home run," she admitted, "not even in practice."

Whether it's the inner circle -- which freshman Trinity Liner described as just members of the team who will do anything for each other and anything to stay together -- or it's coach Kelli Smith's mantra of "17 strong" for the 17 on the team, the Lady Raiders rolled to their fourth state championship in the past five years.

"The inner circle is chemistry," Smith said. "That's how you win championships. They have to buy into what we're teaching and not let things out of the circle break the inner circle."

A running joke in the circle all season was that players wanted to hit in front of Gardner. She normally hits seventh, or sometimes sixth.

"No matter who I put in front of her, they'd hit a home run," Smith said. "Players were begging to hit in front of Mari."

Gardner, batting in her typical seventh spot, couldn't spur Kayla Hughes to belt one over the fence. So she did it herself and gave the Lady Raiders a 5-4 lead in the fourth inning.

"I had no clue it was her first home run ever, and it was the difference in the ballgame, the difference in the state championship," Smith said. "As a shortstop, she was the key to our success this season."

As well as chemistry and pure talent. GPS coach Susan Crownover said the Lady Raiders have a team full of Division I college prospects.

"With our team, I expect us to win because we're that great of a ball team," said Hughes, the winning pitcher who easily rattled off the Lady Raiders' three losses of the season -- to Soddy-Daisy, Silverdale Baptist and Hendersonville.

The state championship almost seemed ordained throughout the season because they breezed through all but those three opponents.

But a cloud remained over their heads, one lingering from last year when the Bruisers won two games over Baylor at the StarPlex complex to claim the TSSAA championship.

"We just block out last year," Smith said. "Well, I do."

The players didn't. Losing those two games, when they needed to win only one to continue their streak of championships, stung worse than a wasp and stuck in their head more than a bad 1980s song.

"I don't think anybody spoke about it," Gardner said. "It was a known fact that we couldn't let them repeat. Knowing we were playing GPS made a lot of people nervous."

Hughes felt it early in the game. So did Madison Mathis, who dropped a fly ball by leadoff hitter Taylor Battle. Hughes walked Lilly Berger. Then Haley Smith belted a home run over the fence in left field.

Three batters into the game, GPS led by three.

"Haley hit the homer to get us going and gave us a chance to get out in front," Crownover said. "But you're not going to hold that lineup down. You knew they were going to score runs."

Baylor senior Lauren Lewis helped put her teammates at ease. The future University of Kentucky player crushed a solo homer in the bottom of the first.

"I think some of the younger girls were nervous, and I think that helped them get through it," said Lewis, whose fingernails are UK blue. "It definitely wasn't a good start, but I'm glad we came out with the bats."

Berger increased the GPS lead to 4-1 when she scored in the third. But Baylor continued hitting, too, and Kamrie Rich delivered a a two-out, two-RBI single in the third to tie the score at 4.

An inning later, Gardner hit her first high school homer. Cheyenne Lindsay drove Gardner across the plate in the sixth for an insurance run.

"This is what we've wanted," Rich said. "It's been our goal all season."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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