Volunteer first baseman Veda Barton makes a play at first. Barton had one of the Lady Falcons' eight hits Wednesday in the Class 3A tournament in Murfreesboro, but Volunteer fell 2-1 in eight innings against Crockett County.
Volunteer first baseman Veda Barton makes a play at first. Barton had one of the Lady Falcons' eight hits Wednesday in the Class 3A tournament in Murfreesboro, but Volunteer fell 2-1 in eight innings against Crockett County.
MURFREESBORO — Volunteer’s first trip to the state softball tournament came to a heartbreaking end Wednesday.
Crockett County was the survivor of the TSSAA Class 3A elimination game with the Lady Falcons after pulling out a 2-1 walk-off win in eight innings at the Starplex.
Piper White went 3-for-3 and scored both runs for the Lady Cavaliers (23-9-1), who played another win-or-go-home game later Wednesday evening.
White got on base with a one- out single in the eighth and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. When Lynden Cole reached on a two-out error at second base, White had time to make it home and score the winning run.
And that wasn’t the first time Cole and White delivered for Crockett County. Cole’s RBI double in the first inning scored White to tie the game at 1.
TAKING FLIGHT EARLY
The Lady Falcons’ Kendra Huff reached on an error in the first inning. Two batters later, Haley Russell sent a two-out double to right and brought home Huff for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Falcons collected eight hits but stranded 10 runners over the last five innings, first failing to capitalize on Jenna Thomas’ leadoff double in the fourth. Volunteer then loaded the bases with two out in the sixth but couldn’t bring anyone home. Zetta Smith and Bryleigh Salyer hit leadoff singles in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, before being stranded.
Thomas finished 2-for-4, and Addyson Fisher, Veda Barton and Jayden Ford had singles for Volunteer. Fisher took the loss despite striking out 11 and giving up only one earned run on seven hits.
BIG YEAR FOR FALCONS
Volunteer — which swept the conference, district and region championships before earning its first state berth this season — finished 21-8 overall.
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