MURFREESBORO – North Greene softball began its Class 1A State Tournament journey on Wednesday afternoon after a rain out on Tuesday.
After a tough first outing with Eagleville, the Lady Huskies pulled it together and defeated Dresden 13-9 to move on to Thursday’s action.
After a bad start to the day and a bad start in the first inning, the Lady Huskies had to lock in staring into the eyes of defeat. They trailed 5-0 after the top of the first to Dresden, but scored six in the bottom half and kept piling on runs until they separated themselves enough to secure the win.
“The first game was a tough game. Eagleville is a good team. They whooped up on us 10-0 and just won 13-1 over Jo Byrns. They were a good team and we knew that coming in. To be honest, they just outplayed us,” Head Coach Andy Weems stated.
He spoke about the turnaround from the Eagleville game to the Dresden game and what it took to remove that loss from your memory. “I thought we did a good job flushing that moving into this game. The first inning in this night cap was stressful. I guess I was unsure after that first half inning. I really liked the way we responded though in the bottom half of the first.”
The Lady Huskies now play Jo Byrns early on Thursday morning at 9:00 AM CT in another elimination game. If they win, they would play immediately after at 11:00 AM CT against Eagleville again. An “if necessary” game would be played at 4:00 PM CT. The State Championship Game would be Friday at 3:00 PM CT.
North Greene shook off their State Tournament rust and snapped a four-game tournament losing streak in the win. Their last win came against Sale Creek in 2021.
They had their work cut out for them in the first game. Eagleville’s Madison Davenport, an Arkansas commit, limited North Greene to only one hit in five innings. She struck out 10 of the 16 batters she faced. Loren Blevins collected the only hit with a bunt single.
The second game with Dresden did not start out hot either. The Lady Lions scored five in the opening inning and quickly put North Greene in a deep hole. They started chipping away at a 5-0 deficit with back-to-back errors on another Blevins bunt and a fly ball by Matti Phillips. Hannah Brooks drove both home with a 2-RBI single. Josie Graham walked and Heidi Trentham singled to load the bases with one out. Charlie Turnmire scored a pair with a 2-RBI double and Kennedy Malone delivered a 2-RBI single to send North Greene ahead 6-5.
“It was a real good response. We got down 5-0 and met outside the dugout and talked about it’s a seven-inning game and we hadn’t even hit yet when it happened, so we had seven more times that we could come up to bat. The game wasn’t over and it was 5-0. If they could score five runs, so can we,” Coach Weems explained.
Dresden tied it 6-6 in the second, took a 7-6 lead in the third, and increased it to 8-6 in the fourth. North Greene didn’t back down again and scored three in the fourth to take a permanent lead.
Kinlea Eastep led off with a triple and Loren Blevins reached first safely on a fielder’s choice. Matti Phillips slapped a double to center field that scored both runners and tied the game at 8-8. Heidi Trentham produced the go-ahead RBI-single in the fourth to put North Greene on top.
In the fifth they added three more. Blevins drove Kennedy Malone home with an RBI-single and Phillips drove Eastep home on a ground out to short. Brooks gave Blevins a trip to the plate with a grounder through the left side. They led 12-9 after five.
They added another insurance run in the sixth through Malone’s bat. Trentham scored on Malone’s RBI-single.
Dresden scored one in the seventh and loaded the bases, but North Greene got out of the jam with a ground ball to end the game and keep their season alive.
North Greene survived and defeated Dresden 13-9 to move on to Thursday’s bracket action.
Heidi Trentham led with a trio of hits and went 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs. Kinlea Eastep, Hannah Brooks, and Kennedy Malone had two hits each. Matti Phillips had three RBIs along with Brooks and Malone. Loren Blevins led the squad with three runs.
