AWT SOFTBALL: Lexington's McDaniel caused problems for opposing teams

Lexington softball coach Ronnie Burke knew what he was doing when he put his three best power hitters in the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 spots in the batting order.

Leading that group of batters was sophomore Samantha McDaniel. McDaniel batted .490 this season to lead the Lady Tigers to the Class AA state championship game and be named The Jackson Sun's Softball Player of the Year.

"We all felt the same way; that we had each others backs," McDaniel said. "There was never a game that all three of us were on together, so we had to pick each other up."

Freshman Kaitlyn Kelley was the No. 5 batter, and senior Iesha Kizer followed at No. 6.

McDaniel had 22 doubles and 14 home runs this season to go along with 45 runs scored.

Lexington won the state championship in 2013, but an early exit in 2014 left Lexington wanting more.

"We talked about it all of the time," McDaniel said. "We didn't want to lose early again. We all had to play together."

The Lady Tigers opened this year's state tournament with a loss, but they regrouped to win six games to force a second championship game.

"We all have our bad games, so we just had to come together."

There was no bigger hit in the state tournament than McDaniel's two-RBI triple in the seventh inning for the walk-off win to reach the championship game, and that was maybe the biggest hit in McDaniel's career.

"Not really I guess," McDaniel said when asked if there has been a bigger hit in her career. "I didn't feel everything was on my shoulders. We had Kaitlyn [Kelley] and Iesha [Kizer] coming up, and they could have gotten the hit also. I just needed to get on base."

Even with the loss of three key seniors, McDaniel said that the goal for next season is the same.

"We are going to try and win state," she said. "We have to become a better team and a closer team.

"We thought we wanted it bad last year, but now we really want it after getting so close."

Michael Odom, 425-9754