As Wednesday’s game went on the North Greene softball team found more and more power at the plate.
Through four innings the contest stayed close, but a huge fifth frame ended the night early and gave the Huskies a 14-3 win over Unaka in the District 1-1A Tournament championship game.
“It’s awesome to get this kind of win and we love having this kind of game, especially here on our home field,” North Greene coach Avery Weems said. “The Lord has blessed us with a great bunch of girls and a good season, even a great assistant coach. I’m super proud of every single one of them, and what we have done this year.”
Both teams are headed to next week’s Region 1-1A Tournament, and after winning on Wednesday the Lady Huskies earn the opportunity to host the semifinal round. Cosby and Hancock County will play on Thursday for the District 2-1A title. North Greene will host the loser of that game, and Unaka will visit the winner.
North Greene went into the bottom of the fifth inning holding a 5-3 lead before exploding for nine runs in the side. Josie Graham led off the side by skipping a single down the third-base line. Heidi Trentham reached on an infield error and both scored when Charlie Turnmire sent a single to left field. After the ball was misplayed in the grass Turnmire ended up on third.
Kennedy Malone sent a fly ball to right field to score the third run of the side. The next big hit of the day came when Loren Blevins stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. The senior burned the defense with a fly ball to fence in center field that drove in three runs for an 11-3 advantage.
On the day Blevins went 3-for-3 and added a sacrifice bunt. In addition to her powerful blast in the fifth she was also able to beat out a bunt single in the third, showing her versatility from the two spot in North Greene’s lineup.
Graham came to the plate for the second time in the fifth inning and ended the game when she launched a no-doubt, three-run home run out of the park in left center.
Graham finished the day, 3-for-4 with a triple, four RBIs and three runs scored.
“Josie is a good hitter and she hits it hard. She’s a strong girl, a great athlete and when she gets the timing down she can smoke it. She had it clicking at the end, and it was huge to get that from her,” Weems said.
On the day North Greene earned 16 hits and six of them went for extra bases. Hannah Brooks, Turnmire and Trentham all had doubles. Eight different North Greene batters earned a hit, nine reached base safely and nine scored a run.
“The theme this week has been to start slow and turn it on in the later innings,” Weems said. “It was the same thing tonight. We let them hang around, and then we came up with a big inning at the end. It was good to see our girls battle, and to stay at it on offense. The girls made the right adjustments, they got the timing down and then we were really hitting the ball hard. That really set things off for us.”
The day started with North Greene scoring one run in the first inning. Kinlea Eastep reached on an error, and Blevins put her on third with a sacrifice bunt. Matti Phillips put a sacrifice fly into left field that allowed Eastep to cross the dish.
In the bottom second inning Trentham led off by firing a double into left field. Chloe Keys scored her with a drive up the middle for a 2-0 North Greene lead.
Unaka did briefly tie the game at 2-2 in the third frame. Brookly Campbell put two in scoring position with a shot to deep left field. The Lady Rangers’ first run scored when Katlyn Dugger sent a single to centerfield. Campbell scored the tying run on a double steal in which the Lady Huskies caught Dugger at second.
North Greene’s bats seemed to wake after the Lady Rangers applied some pressure. They got doubles from Brooks and Turnmire and a triple from Graham to score three runs while going in front 5-2.
Unaka put two runners in scoring position in the fourth inning, but North Greene got out of the jam with a comebacker to the circle before Brooks caught a weak line drive at second base that left the runners stranded.
North Greene’s defense left a total of six Unaka runners stranded in scoring position on Wednesday.
Turnmire earned the win from the circle. In five innings the freshman struck out two, walked three and scattered eight hits.
“I’m super proud of Charlie Turnmire,” Weems said. “She’s a freshman pitcher and throws a complete game in the district championship. There were times where she could have let a bad play on defense get to her, but she hunkered down and fought hard to get out of the jams.”
For Unaka Kimberly Profitt took the loss. In three innings she struck out one, walked none and allowed eight hits.
Campbell was 2-for-3 with a double for the Lady Rangers. Katie Bare also had two hits.
