SOFTBALL

SHIELDS: True story - McNairy softball is the Cinderella team of Spring Fling

Brandon Shields
Jackson Sun

MURFREESBORO – If Spring Fling gets to claim its own version of a Cinderella team, the softball team from McNairy Central fits the description in 2017.

The Lady Bobcats have gone from finishing fourth in District 14-AA regular season as early as April 26 to winning 13 of their last 14 games.

In those 14 games, McNairy has given up 18 total runs with eight shutouts in the 13 victories.

The preparation for this run began unofficially when head coach Melanie Surratt began putting the schedule together.

“We wanted to schedule tough, and we wanted to get the girls away from West Tennessee and see what other teams are like,” Surratt said.

What that looked like was a few weekend tournaments in Alabama and Mississippi. McNairy took its lumps in those tournaments, but they picked up some big wins over teams that won state championships last year in those other states.

“We weren’t playing teams around here much, so we weren’t really knowing how we were looking other than we were losing more games than we wanted to,” Surratt said. “Then we came back and played district games and saw that we had been playing good teams and maybe we were better than our record looked like we were.”

McNairy Central's head softball coach Mellanie Surratt smiles at her team between innings during game 12 of the 2017 TSSAA Class AA Girls' State Softball tournament against Creek Wood High School, Thursday, May 25. McNairy defeated Creek Wood, 3-0.

There’s no question now how good McNairy looks. The latest win in this run was over Creek Wood on Thursday, 3-0, after a Tori York three-run home run and a typical stellar pitching performance by Katie Turner with . That victory was in the winners’ bracket final in the Class AA state tournament. It means the Lady Bobcats will play for the championship at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

McNairy Central's Tori Yord (44) is greeted by her teammates at home plate after hitting a homerun during game 12 of the 2017 TSSAA Class AA Girls' State Softball tournament against Creek Wood High School, Thursday, May 25. McNairy defeated Creek Wood, 3-0.

It’s been mentioned more than once this week how historic this opportunity is for McNairy Central. It’s the first trip to state for the softball program. The Lady Bobcats are a win away from winning the first team state championship in school history.

They’re a win away from completing the Cinderella-type fairy tale.

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.