Powell has a 'Beautiful Crazy' ride to second state softball championship
MURFREESBORO — Powell softball will forever link “Beautiful Crazy” with its state championship. Luke Combs’ song has been running on repeat in the Powell dugout all week.
Center fielder Kennedy Cowden and her friends have been listening to the song recently, so she played it before the Panthers’ first game of Spring Fling. When they won that game, the song became their official anthem.
It was the song they sang after being handed the Class AAA state softball championship trophy. And it was the song they sang arm-in-arm with their classmates as tears started to well.
“It’s a slow country song, but it’s freaking awesome,” Cowden said after the 2-1 win over Walker Valley on Friday in the championship.
The Panthers had all kinds of confidence after winning the winners bracket final on Thursday — shortstop Cayden Baker called out to the team huddle that no one could beat them twice. But they were a little rattled after losing the first championship game, which forced the "if necessary" game in the double-elimination tournament.
“We were all extremely anxious to start the second game,” Cowden said. “We were a little worried, but at the same time, we knew if we played our ballgame, we had it in the bag.”
After three scoreless innings, the game felt like one that a couple of runs could win. Walker Valley came up with a run in the top of the fourth and then Baker drove in two runs with a hard grounder to center field in the bottom of the fifth. Those runs stood as the only ones.
"I did feel if we got three or four runs, we would have a good chance win," coach Jeff Inman said. "They made some mistakes and lost the first game, but (pitcher Allison Farr) came back even stronger the second game."
Baker was supposed to be on a plane Friday night. She and her family are going to a wedding in California and had to change their flights to early Saturday morning.
They will be partying on little sleep when they get to the wedding, but it’s worth it to have a state title.