Five takeaways from Heritage's 9-AA softball title over Greenbrier

WHITE HOUSE — Addison Holmes' two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh inning Saturday night gave White House Heritage's softball team the District 9-AA tournament title, as the Lady Patriots beat Greenbrier, 2-1.

Heritage, which needed to win twice Saturday, beat the Lady Bobcats 8-4 behind Sami West's five RBIs. West also pitched the first five innings.

Both teams played in region semifinals Monday.

"I knew before we played that we had a chance and we could do it," White House Heritage junior Alyssa Arden said. "We just needed to keep up doing what we could."

Here are takeaways from the games:

Evenly matched

Heritage and Greenbrier have split their six meetings this year, with five of them decided by two runs or less. They tied for the regular-season title and had to determined the No. 1 seed for the tournament by a coin flip for the second straight year.

"The goal was never to win district," Greenbrier coach Janna Harris said. "The goal is to get out of district. Winning it is a bonus. These close games have to be preparing for something in life or something in softball. We've played them so many times. We split them right down the middle. We're dead even."

"A bunch of us know a bunch of them off the field, but it's still a big rivalry on the field," West said.

Go West

For a team that had struggled recently at the plate, West was a tone-setter. With two out in the bottom of the first inning of the first game, she clubbed a three-run homer to left in the bottom of the first inning.

She also had the key hit in a four-run fifth inning, smacking a two-run single that gave her team the lead for good.

"I usually wait for the pitch I can hit and then try and execute for my team," West said. "So I usually just wait for the pitch I can hit and hit well."

Arden's double-duty

Arden, a Tennessee Tech commitment, was both a stopper and a starter Saturday.

After Heritage's big inning in the first game, Arden came in for the last two innings and got the save, pitching a pair of no-hit innings. In the second game, she allowed six hits and an unearned run.

"I think the game plan was to let Sami pitch and then if I needed to come in, I would do it," Arden said.

Game 7?

Heritage will play host to a region semifinal on Monday while Greenbrier must travel. If both win again, Heritage will host the teams' seventh meeting in a region final on Wednesday -- and then could conceivably meet again at Spring Fling.

The teams have met the last two years in the regional final, with Greenbrier winning in 2015 and Heritage winning last year.