By Michael Lindsay
Saturday’s Class 1A softball sectional matchup between Gordonsville and South Pittsburg lived up to the billing as the defending state champion Tigerettes defeated the Lady Pirates, 1-0.
“It’s been a long day,” said Gordonsville head coach Jonathon Bush. “We told the girls that (Kaylee) Kilgore was one of the better pitchers in the state. We knew it was going to be close.”
Junior pitcher Kailey Plumlee led the Tigerettes with 19 strikeouts while also scoring their only run via a solo homer to left.
Plumlee took a perfect game into the seventh inning with one out before South Pittsburg scratched a single over the infield.
“Kailey is a beast in the circle and our girls feed off of her,” said Bush. “She’s huge for us.”
Plumlee opened the contest with 8 consecutive strikeouts before forcing a ground out to first baseman Kelsie Watts for the third out of the third inning.
The Tigerettes got on the board in the bottom-half of the third via Plumlee’s solo homer over the left field wall to give her team a 1-0 advantage.
Plumlee retired the next 10 batters she saw with 9 of the outs coming via strikeout and one grounder.
South Pittsburg threatened with a runner at first with one out in the top of the seventh before Plumlee stuck out the final two Lady Pirate batters to clinch the 1-0 victory.
“We’re going to get that from every team we play,” said Bush. “That’s what we’ve worked for our program to get. It was an intense game.”
Gordonsville’s sectional win advances the Tigerettes to their fifth state tournament in school history and third consecutive. The Tigerettes won last year’s Class 1A state championship.
Gordonsville will open state tournament play on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Murfreesboro at Starplex, opponent and field TBD.
