It’s been an interesting softball season so far for Sale Creek and coach Clifford Kirk.
There was a point at the beginning where several Lady Panthers were hurt. Playing quality softball became a daily challenge.
Fast-forward to the first week of May.
Most of those injured players are back in the lineup and healthy. Add to that fact Sale Creek is playing their best softball, so it’s really not a surprise they won the District 4-A tournament for the third straight year. And they did so much to the joy and satisfaction of a near-capacity crowd on their home field.
Sale Creek had begun tournament play with an easy 10-0 victory over Copper Basin on Saturday. The Lady Panthers then advanced to the championship game with Monday’s 11-1 win over Tellico Plains.
They beat those same Lady Bears Tuesday night for the tournament championship. They didn’t run-rule them like they had on Monday, but they still played pretty good softball to win by a final score of 8-0.
The Lady Panthers will be at home on Monday to host District 3-A runner-up in the semifinal round of the Region 3-A tournament.
Madison Stott was the starting pitcher for Sale Creek in Tuesday’s game. She pitched two and a third innings before being relieved by Macie Stanfield, but the scrappy senior was the winner after allowing three hits and three walks during her stint in the circle.
Stanfield finished the job and allowed two more hits while striking out six and walking two.
The Lady Bears never scored any runs, but they had plenty of chances as they left at least one runner on base in every inning with 10 total for the game.
“That was a good game,” said Tellico Plains coach Don Swanson after his team had fallen to 18-12 for the season.
“I’m proud of how we’ve overcome a number of injuries as a number of players have been playing out of position. I was so happy to have McKenzie Armstrong back. She had gall bladder surgery two weeks ago, but she was back for her first game and gave us a lift.
“Sale Creek has some outstanding pitching. We had plenty of runners on base, but we have to learn how to get hits in those situations. We had our chances, but Sale Creek is as good as anybody we’ve played this year,” Swanson added.
Sale Creek’s Kirk could only smile when talking about his team’s latest win.
“I think we gave up one run this entire tournament, so I’m pleased for the most part. You know me, there are always areas where we can improve on. I thought we struggled a little in the early innings tonight, but once we figured their pitcher out, it was a different story.
“We’re playing well right now and I’m happy about that. And we’ll be here to host a region game on Monday and that’s a good thing as well,” the veteran coach added.
While Stott was the winning pitcher, Kelcie Jones was the loser after allowing all eight runs on 13 hits. She was relieved by Rhylea McJunkin after Shelby Sullivan led off the Sale Creek sixth with a double.
Hannah Hall, Kristen Sharp, Allison Smith and Stott all had two hits apiece with Smith driving in a pair with a fifth-inning home run when the Lady Panthers scored three runs and basically created a little breathing room on what had been an otherwise close game.
Hall reached on an infield single in the third before leading off the fifth with a triple. Sharp then doubled on a 3-2 pitch to score the speedy Hall. Sharp then scored after Smith swatted an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left-center to make it 7-0.
The Lady Bears finished with five hits. Catcher Ireland Whitmire was the only Tellico Plains player with two.
Tellico Plains had earned their spot against Sale Creek with a 4-3 victory over CSAS in Tuesday’s first game, the winning run scoring in the bottom of the seventh.
TELLICO PLAINS 000 000 0 – 0 5 3
SALE CREEK 020 231 x – 8 13 0
Jones, McJunkin and Whitmire; Stott, Stanfield (3) and Skiles.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)