There’s nothing quite like a little late-inning drama when a team is playing their final home softball game of the season.
Such was the case at Soddy Daisy’s Clifford Kirk Stadium/Lamar Lasley Field Friday night when the Lady Trojans were playing the Lady Patriots from Page High School in the sectional round of the TSSAA state playoffs where the winner advanced to the state tournament while the loser ended its season.
It was a great game from start to finish and there was a standing-room crowd there to watch it as the Lady Trojans won their 13th straight game after coming back twice to win, the second time on a grand slam by senior shortstop Tatum Massengale, one of three Soddy Daisy players who received their diplomas during graduation ceremonies on Thursday.
The final score was 7-3 in a game where the lead changed hands four times.
It was a heart-stopping finish as the young ladies from Franklin simply weren’t ready to end their season. Neither were the Lady Trojans as they punched their ticket to next week’s Spring Fling tournament by improving to 30-5-1 with the win.
Page ends its season at 19-15.
Soddy Daisy had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning before Page took the lead with two runs in the fourth. Still trailing 2-1 going to the bottom of the fifth, winning pitcher Regan Rowan gave her team a 3-2 lead with a two-out, two-run single, but it was Massengale’s heroics two innings later that really saved the day for the Lady Trojans.
Page had one final shot in the seventh and they refused to surrender without a fight.
Rowan got the first two outs fairly fast with a swinging third strike for the first and a pop to second for the second. Karissa Fike then walked on four pitches to keep the inning alive before Ella Polk singled to put runners on first and third.
Jenna Adkisson then ripped a fly to right that was dropped when Abby Faires and Izzy Webb collided as Fite easily scored the tying run, but Faires got up, retrieved the ball and fired a strike to Adasyn Wilkey at home to nail Polk for the third out.
Webb made up for her fielding blunder with a double to lead off the seventh while Skylar Gooden reached on an infield single. Faires then reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases for Massengale, who had flied out twice and popped up once in her previous three times at the plate.
With the game on the line, a 2-2 count and nobody out, Massengale ripped her seventh homer of the season to the opposite field and it was a biggie as the Lady Trojan bench erupted in celebration as soon as the ball cleared the fence.
“I was really nervous that last time up. I hadn’t been patient before that, but I waited for my pitch. I knew I hit it well, but had no idea it was going out, but it was so cool to be able to touch all four bases on my final at-bat on this field,” the 18-year-old senior, who will be playing softball at Tennessee Wesleyan next year, smiled.
Rowan was another Lady Trojan who was really excited when it all ended. Much like Massengale, she’s had more than her share of thrills when she came through in the clutch and that two-run single was just the last one.
“I just wanted to make contact and drive somebody in. I had given up the home run the previous inning and really needed to make up for it, so there was a bit more pressure than normal. But I’m so excited as we can make plans for Murfreesboro now,” she added.
Soddy Daisy coach Kelsey Nunley-Moore could only smile when the game finally ended. She knows that her team is playing their best softball of the season right now and she just hopes it will continue next week.
“What a roller-coaster ride for us today,” she started.
“I’m always nervous when we play, so being tense for me was nothing new. I was sort of beating myself up for not sending the runner from third when Regan got her hit, but there was nobody I wanted up more in that last situation than Tatum Massengale.
“We talked before she went to bat and I told her that those first three times up had prepared her for that last chance and she took advantage of it. We’ve been coming from behind all year, so that was nothing new for us. There is no quit in this team. It’s been a while since we won a state title, but why not us this time. We’ll just go to Murfreesboro and give it our best shot and see what happens,” the veteran coach added.
Page coach Travis Polk certainly had nothing to complain about when the game ended as his girls suffered a heart-breaking loss on the final pitch.
“That last swing was it, but all I could ask for today was for us to keep it close. We were able to do that. We battled the entire game and we’ve had a great season. There are a lot of teams at home today who would have loved to be in our situation, but we still have a whole lot to be proud of for the season we had,” he nodded before talking to his girls.
Rowan was the winning pitcher after allowing three runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking four.
Shelby Buffington was a hard-luck loser for Page after giving up all seven run on nine hits with one strikeout and no walks. It was her solo homer leading off the fourth that knotted the score at 1-1.
Gooden, Faires and Webb all had two hits for the Lady Trojans while Polk was the only Page player with two.
Kam Fite had a walk in three at-bats and a fly to right that drove in teammate Caitlyn Hudgens with the go-ahead run in the fourth. Hudgens had doubled after Buffington’s home run and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Dolly Platz.
The other seniors playing their final home game for the Lady Trojans, in addition to Massengale, were Wilkey and first baseman Jenna Sims.
PAGE 000 200 1 – 3 6 3
SODDY DAISY 100 020 4 – 7 9 1
Buffington and Polk; Rowan and Wilkey.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)