Boyd Buchanan Rallies To Top CCS, 7-6

Saturday was a day of celebration for members of the Boyd Buchanan softball program.

It was the first-ever Alumni Day for the Lady Bucs as they celebrated a history of outstanding prep volleyball teams, including state championship teams in 1987 and 1989 where banners for each of those titles were unveiled on the outfield fence.

And the current Lady Bucs team ended the day on a positive note with a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over Chattanooga Christian.

It turned out to be a perfect day for softball, despite the heavy rain that fell overnight and forced Boyd Buchanan coaches to work overtime getting the field ready to play. It was quite breezy at times, but with temperatures in the low 70s, it was a nice day for all involved.

The Lady Bucs are now 13-4 following Saturday’s win while the Lady Chargers are now 11-11-1 for the season.

“We had a lot of distractions we normally don’t have and we tried to give it away a couple of times, but I’m really proud of the way we kept coming back,” said Boyd’s first-year head coach Tom Watson after the see-saw affair finally ended.

“We had a rough start where we gave up two runs in the first inning and then we had the one bad inning with two errors where they scored three times, but I liked the way we just kept battling.

“Kiley (Elliott) didn’t have her best day, but I really liked how Kinley (Ervin) came in and pitched really well. She only gave up two hits in four innings and only one ball that was hit hard, but it’s always good to win against a rival team like Chattanooga Christian.

“But it’s been a great day for us and I’m so glad it turned out to be such a beautiful afternoon,” Watson added.

“That was a good game and much better than the last time we played,” said CCS coach Steven Rogers in reference to the first time these two teams played where the Lady Bucs won 8-0 and CCS only had one hit.

“Boyd Buchanan has a great team, but we finally started hitting the ball. Now if we can just clean up some of those silly errors, we’ll be just fine. We have three big games this coming week, but I feel like we have a little momentum that should help us,” Rogers nodded.

CCS had the lead on two occasions as they finished the game with 10 hits while leaving nine runners stranded.

Leadoff hitter Hannah Smith reached on an infield single to start the game before stealing second. Lauren McGill then walked before a grounder to the pitcher from Addi Lewis advanced both runners to second and third.

Autumn Hughes and Nyla Halfacre had back-to-back singles to drive in those two runs for an early 2-0 lead.

The Lady Bucs didn’t trail for long as Ella Meade reached on a CCS error, Brooke Watson and Kiley Elliott both singled before Gracie Petty reached on another error to plate Meade with the first run.

Alli Johnson then lined a 2-1 pitch into the gap in right-center to drive in the next two and the score was 3-2 after one inning.

Alli Matthews knotted the score with an RBI-single in the third that scored McGill, who had reached on a leadoff single.

The Lady Bucs regained the lead with two runs in the fourth. K.K. Butler had a one-out double and went to third when Meade reached on an infield single.

Butler scored on a groundout by Watson while Meade scored the second run on Chattanooga Christian’s third error of the game.

Ervin had come in at the start of the fourth inning in relief of Elliott and tossed shutout softball with no hits for the first two innings, but things changed in the sixth.

Smith and Hughes both had doubles for the only hits, but two Lady Buc errors allowed the first two runs to score before Hughes poke drove in Lewis with the third run of the inning.

But once again, the Lady Bucs responded to the challenge and scored the winning runs in their next time to bat.

Watson and Elliott both reached on one-out singles before a walk to Petty loaded the bases. Johnson and Sydney Baker then followed with RBI-singles to drive in the tying and winning runs.

Elliott was the only Lady Buc with three hits while Meade, Watson and Johnson all had two apiece.

Smith and Hughes both had three hits to lead CCS.

Next week will be busy for both teams with some really challenging games for both.

The Lady Chargers will host Signal Mountain on Monday before going to Soddy Daisy on Tuesday, followed by another home game on Wednesday against North Jackson. The Lady Bucs have two big road games, starting at Silverdale on Tuesday and at Baylor on Thursday.

CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 201 003 0 – 6 10 3

BOYD BUCHANAN 300 202 x – 7 12 2

Smith and E.Matthews; Elliott, Ervin (4) and Johnson.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)