Hampton nearly pushed Chuckey-Doak to its breaking point, but the Lady Knights overcame a late deficit to take Hampton down 6-5 and advanced to Thursday night’s District 1-2A Championship Game.
For 42 years, Head Coach Tim Armstrong served as Chuckey-Doak’s Assistant Coach. Through thick and thin he stuck by the program and has served under a handful of different head coaches in his time as a Black Knight. When the job opened up after last season the administration believed in him and gave him the opportunity to represent the title of Head Coach. On Wednesday afternoon he made all of Lower Afton proud by taking his girls to the District Championship Game in year one.
With an abundance of joy, Armstrong expressed his excitement after the win and how much it meant to him at this stage in life.
“Right now I’m excited and I am tickled to death and thank God these girls came through. I gave them a little speech today, and not a lot of people know but I battled cancer and I could’ve been gone and might not have even been here, but praise the Lord he saw fit to put me here and let me experience this and grow with these kids right here. I’m tickled to death and proud of them,” Armstrong said.
He continued, “The administration here at Chuckey-Doak took a chance and let me be the head coach and I thank them for letting me do that. I’ve been an assistant for every coach that’s been at Chuckey-Doak since they started softball so 42 years later, here I am a Head Coach and I’m going to a District Championship with these young ladies.”
The win did not come easy though. After leading 4-1 after three innings, Hampton scored four in the top of the fourth to take a 5-4 lead.
The Lady Knights tied it in the fifth and took the lead back in the sixth. Hampton put two runners on base with two outs in the seventh and made them uncomfortable again, but when the dust settled Chuckey-Doak pulled through and got the last out they needed to advance.
Chuckey-Doak is also back in the Region 1-2A Tournament now after a one-year hiatus from the tournament. They will join Alcoa, Eagleton, and South Greene. Before even thinking about that the Lady Knights will have the opportunity to win the District 1-2A Championship on Thursday night in a matchup with South Greene.
A few big swings changed the course of the game in Chuckey-Doak’s favor. Tralyn Southerland launched a massive two-run home run to center field in the first inning, Madison Malone laid down a sac bunt and delivered an RBI-double, and Jayden Myers blasted an RBI-triple that served as the go-ahead run.
“In big games people step up and we had some people step up today when really needed them,” Armstrong stated.
Saniah Atchison led them in runs with three and was one of two players with a two-hit game going 2-for-2. Hayleigh Seidl was the other one going 2-for-3. Madison Malone and Tralyn Southerland each had two RBIs.
JMyers may have been the biggest difference maker in the game and received huge praise from Coach Armstrong after the game. She stepped in to relieve starter Abby Donoho and pitched 3 2/3 innings with only three hits, three walks, and no runs allowed. She only had one hit all game but it was the one that mattered most with the game hanging in the balance.
“Jayden coming in to pitch helped us. You’re seeing the future of Chuckey-Doak,” Armstrong said.
The Lady Knights started hot and Atchison led off with a single. Seidl delivered an RBI-double off the rip in the two hole and put Chuckey-Doak ahead 1-0. Southerland’s mammoth two-run shot sent them ahead 3-0 once it finally landed.
Hampton score on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the second.
Another big hit from Saniah Atchison rolled to the fence and she ended up on third base for a triple. Malone laid down a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt and scored Atchison.
Hampton rallied and scored four in the top of the fourth to take the lead away. A bases-loaded walk made it 4-2 and a 2-RBI single from Emma Birchfield scored two runs and tied it. Briley Davis provided an RBI-single next to send the Lady Bulldogs ahead 5-4.
Chuckey-Doak responded in the bottom of the fifth with a run to tie it. Atchison was hit by a pitch and hopped on first base. Malone crushed a fly ball to the right field fence for an RBI-double and scored Atchison.
The go-ahead run came with two outs in the sixth inning off the bat of Jayden Myers. The inning began with back-to-back outs, but a hit by pitch to Emmie Tipton put the winning run on base. Myers swung at the first pitch delivered from the circle and drove it to the right field fence for the go-ahead RBI-triple.
The momentum was all on Chuckey-Doak’s side, but that quickly faded away too. Hannah Smith drew a four-pitch walk and a single followed to add two runners on the base path. Luckily for the Lady Knights with runners on first and second it brought to the potential for a force out at any bag on a ground ball. That just so happened to happen on the first pitch of the next at bat and Malone tagged the runner headed to third and the game was over.
Chuckey-Doak survived and outlasted Hampton 6-5 in the District 1-2A semifinals. The Lady Knights square off with the Lady Rebels at South Greene for the District Championship on Thursday.
