BLUFF CITY, Tenn. – Tennessee High’s softball team appears charged to full strength entering the postseason thanks to some powerful batterymates.
Carly Compton pitched a two-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts and hit a home run, while reliable catcher Abby Haga was 4-for-6 with a dinger and six RBIs as the Vikings clinched the Upper Lakes Conference championship with an 18-0 victory over the Sullivan East Patriots on Wednesday.
THS (18-3, 7-0) used a major jolt in the form of a 14-run outburst in the top of the seventh inning to turn a tight contest between rivals into another high-scoring victory.
“We always make the adjustments,” Compton said. “I didn’t doubt it one time. We were making contact early and doing our job, it was just a matter of when they were going to start falling. I wasn’t worried about it.”
People are also reading…
Haga hammered offerings from East pitcher Raquel Del Prete in her first two at-bats on Wednesday but both times the result was flyball outs corralled by center fielder Carly Bradford of the Patriots.
“When you barrel up and it goes straight to somebody it’s like a mood killer,” Haga said.
The mood soon changed as Haga had hits in her next four plate appearances.
There was a bloop single to begin the fifth inning, a two-run single in the sixth and in that seventh-inning explosion she connected for a two-run homer and a two-run single.
It was the second homer of the season for Haga, who is as steady as she goes.
“She’s level-headed,” said Tennessee High coach David Boggs. “You can’t shake her.”
Just what you want in a catcher, right?
“Absolutely,” Boggs said. “She’s one of our team leaders.”
A University of North Carolina commit who spent her first two prep seasons as the ace of the Tazewell High School Bulldogs in Southwest Virginia, Compton has been on the same page as Haga since arriving in Bristol.
“She’s a workhorse,” Compton said. “An absolute workhorse. She does her job every single time. I can’t tell you how many times she gets pinged in the bullpens and during games, but she takes it like a champ. She works back there for me, and her framing is absolutely amazing. You can’t be a great pitcher if you don’t have a great catcher behind you and I am very thankful for her.”
Haga has no problem receiving the variety of pitches in the hard-throwing right-hander’s arsenal.
East managed only a couple of singles on Wednesday off Compton: one in the first inning by Shelbie Leffew and the other in the third by Brooklyne Loudy.
A familiar sound on Wednesday was the loud pop of Haga's mitt as the Patriots swung and missed often.
“I’m having a blast back there,” Haga said.
The ultra-competitive Compton yells loudly, “Let’s Go” after each strikeout and doesn’t hide her emotions or unbridled enthusiasm while in the circle.
“It gets everybody hyped,” Haga said.
Meanwhile, the catcher for the Vikings is a study in stoicism.
“Abby’s very poker-faced,” Compton said. “She always has my back. She tells me to calm down sometimes, because I do get a bit amped up. In just a short time, she’s adjusted and learned me and my pitches and what I like. That’s very amazing coming in like I did. From right off the bat, we had a bond.”
That chemistry has been a key for the Vikings and plenty of players have spent time in the spotlight this spring.
Freshman phenom Addie Wilhoit was 3-for-5 and scored four times on Wednesday form the leadoff spot.
Maddi Ratliff (3-for-5, two RBIs), Macie Strouth (two hits, two runs), Kaylie Hughes (two hits) and Lily Ware (two hits) also took part in the hit parade, while Maddi Hall was hit three times by pitches and scored twice.
“Our bats have been slow a little bit lately,” Boggs said. “We’ve been working on that a lot the last few weeks and hopefully, it’s starting to kick in.”
East (9-24, 1-7) dropped a doubleheader to Unicoi County on Tuesday by scores of 13-6 and 28-10.
A bout with mononucleosis has sidelined the team’s No. 2 pitchers for the last few weeks.
“Raquel threw 197 pitches [Tuesday] and I wasn’t going to pitch her today, but she really wanted to do it,” said Sullivan East coach Michael Forrester. “She did great.”
That final score is a bit misleading as the Patriots trailed just 2-0 after five innings and 4-0 after six innings on Wednesday.
“I think [Del Prete] hit a wall,” Forrester said. “They have such great hitters. We weren’t kicking it around, it was just hits.”
The eternally optimistic Forrester is remaining positive.
“We beat David Crockett, we were tied 2-2 with Elizabethton going into the seventh inning. We scored 16 runs in two games against Unicoi County,” Forrester said. “We haven’t been really close with Tennessee High, but I told the girls they don’t have to beat Tennessee High to go to the regional tournament; you’ve just got to beat the other teams. We’re going to go try and win three times in the district tournament next week and we think we can. We’ve been close enough to everybody, it’s just making a play. We’re knocking on the door.”
Meanwhile, it’s going to be hard for anybody to deny Tennessee High entrance into the state tournament in a few weeks.
The Vikings are the hosts of the TSSAA District 1-3A tournament.
“If we can keep moving in the direction we’re moving in now, this bunch is going to be tough for anybody,” Boggs said. “But we can’t be satisfied and they’re not. I could go over there and tell them they are the greatest team in the world and they’re still ready to take the field tomorrow in practice to get better. They’re hungry.”
That Compton and Haga battery is an important part of the multi-faceted attack.
“We say in practice all the time that we’re just taking it one pitch, one inning and one game at a time,” Compton said. “It’s good to take the first baby step of where we want to go. It was a little shaky today for a little bit, but we got it done and that’s all that we have to do and that’s all that matters.”
Tennessee High 002 002 (14)—18 19 1
Sullivan East 000 000 0—0 2 3
Compton and Haga. Del Prete, Doss (7) and Holly. W – Compton. L – Del Prete. HR – Compton (THS), 7th, none on; Haga (THS), 7th, one on.