By Michael Lindsay
The Upperman Lady Bees are headed to the state tournament for the second time in program history as they defeated Heritage Sunday afternoon in their Class 3A softball sectional contest, 11-4.
“It’s been so hard to get to this game,” said Upperman coach Dustin Williams. “To finally break through, I’m so proud for the girls, especially the seniors.”
Upperman clinched their trip to Murfreesboro thanks in part to a 7-run first inning against the Mountaineers.
“We were able to come in today and kick the door down,” said Williams. “The girls were so locked in from the get-go.”
Senior pitcher Reese Kimmel struck out 7 batters in the complete-game victory while going 4-4 at the plate with an RBI. Center fielder Addy McElhaney went 2-2 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored while drawing 2 walks.
“Everybody did their part,” said Williams. “You can’t say enough about what Reese has done in the circle. It’s a whole team thing. All 13 of our players played in this game today in some capacity.”
After retiring the Mountaineers in order in the top of the first inning, Upperman posted 7 runs in the bottom-half of the frame. McElhaney started the damage by stealing home followed by a 2-run single by Addy Harris to make the score 3-0.
The Lady Bees scored four more runs with two outs in the frame as an error on a Gracie Butler bunt followed by a McElhaney single scored 2 runs each to give Upperman their 7-0 advantage.
Heritage scratched across a run in the top of the second and three in the top of the third to cut Upperman’s lead to 7-4.
“You’ve got to stay locked in,” said Williams. “You can’t look at it with a telescope; you’ve got to use a microscope. We’ve got to win innings, and we were able to win 5 of the 7.”
The Lady Bees did more two-out damage in the bottom of the third inning as a double by Kirra Hancock and single by Kimmel scored a run each to give Upperman a 9-4 advantage.
Upperman tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings to take an 11-4 lead, a lead they held for the rest of the game to clinch their state tournament berth.
“To be one of the final 8 teams left in our classification, that’s huge for our program,” said Williams.
Tuesday will be Upperman’s second state tournament appearance with the first coming when they finished third overall in 2012.
The Lady Bees are scheduled to face Carter on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Murfreesboro’s Starplex.
