Franklin County's Jocilyn DeSmet begins to run toward first base after hitting the ball during a game Thursday at Tullahoma High School. DeSmet had a home run and an RBI in the 5-2 loss.
Franklin County's Jocilyn DeSmet begins to run toward first base after hitting the ball during a game Thursday at Tullahoma High School. DeSmet had a home run and an RBI in the 5-2 loss.
The Franklin County High School Rebelettes lost to the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats 5-2 on the road Thursday in a first-round game for the District 8AAA tournament.
The fifth-seeded Rebelettes fell behind early in the game with the fourth-seeded Lady Wildcats creating more separation in the bottom of the fifth that the Rebelettes weren’t able to rally back from in their postseason opener.
Franklin County head softball coach Kelly Kennedy praised the performance of starting pitcher Dalayna Marshall across her last two appearances against Tullahoma and highlighted positive steps from her underclassmen as a whole.
“Overall, I think that we have a lot of bright spots with our younger players. I think that Dalayna Marshall, seeing Tullahoma for a full (13) innings this week, pitched absolutely lights out, holding them to scoring just 10 runs across two games. I think that we have a lot to look forward to with our younger kids as they continue to age and develop,” she said. “This season’s not over, but I am excited to see what they put together over the next few years.”
The Lady Wildcats took the lead in the bottom of the first with one run each scoring on a throwing error and an RBI double to put the deficit at 2-0 early.
The Rebelettes got their first run of the day in the top of the fourth as Kaitlyn Montgomery hit an RBI single up the middle to score Kyleigh DeCamp from second base and make it a 2-1 game.
The Rebelettes had their first two batters in the top of the fifth reach base as Natalie Hagood got hit by a pitch and Emma Owens drew a walk, but a strikeout and two groundouts stranded both runners to end the inning.
The Lady Wildcats then scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase their advantage as two RBI doubles and an RBI infield single put the deficit at 5-1 late.
The Rebelettes got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth as Jocilyn DeSmet hit a solo home run to straightaway center field.
However, the Rebelettes weren’t able to produce any more runs for the day as they lost by three.
Marshall pitched a complete game for the Rebelettes with one strikeout, eight hits, four walks, four earned runs and one unearned run allowed.
With the loss, the Rebelettes moved to 7-21 on the season.
They will next play Monday at Marshall County High School or Lawrence County High School in an elimination game for the District 8AAA tournament. A start time for the game had not been confirmed at the time of writing.
