After falling behind 6-1 in the second inning, the Chuckey-Doak Lady Black Knights worked their way back to run-rule the home-standing West Greene Lady Buffaloes 18-7 in six innings on Thursday night.
Chuckey-Doak is no stranger to come-from-behind wins. They’ve trailed in four of their five conference wins now and know what it takes to get the job done. The Lady Knights also love to play spoiler when they can. With wins in their three remaining games, West Greene had the opportunity to finish in second place in the standings and host in next week’s District 1-2A tournament. Chuckey-Doak threw a wrench in those plans and kept their streak going by winning their third-straight District 1-2A game with previous wins over Johnson County and Hampton.
Chuckey-Doak Head Coach Tim Armstrong spoke highly about the improvements his team has made throughout the season. From allowing Johnson County to score 16 runs in their first league game to holding West Greene to only seven last night, he is excited about what’s to come in the postseason ahead.
“Since the beginning of the year my goal was to get these girls in shape by the second week of April, and we’re close to on track, but we struggled early. They’ve come along and we’ve been working and I’m a little excited here. We’re on a little roll here and I’d like to see them keep going,” Armstrong said.
The bats came alive late as 17 of the 18 runs scored came in the final four innings. Jayden Myers was a true difference maker with three RBIs and two runs on four hits. She stepped in to the circle to relieve starter Abby Donoho and held West Greene in check with 4.2 innings, six hits, and three earned runs.
Another big game from Saniah Atchison helped aid the Lady Knights’ win. She went 2-for-4, with five RBIs and a run. Tralyn Southerland’s big swings led to a 3-for-4 night with four runs, two RBIs, and a home run.
“We were seeing it and making connections. They can’t get too excited and need to just let it come to them,” Armstrong mentioned.
West Greene was led by Hayley Arnold with a perfect 3-for-3 night with two RBIs. Morgan Brown led the team in RBIs and runs with four RBIs and three runs.
Chuckey-Doak improved to 5-4 within the District 1-2A conference. West Greene dropped to 3-5 heading into their final series with Happy Valley.
Both teams scratched one run across in the first inning and they sat tied 1-1. Southerland delivered an RBI-single to score Madison Malone and Arnold’s RBI-single scored Brown.
The Lady Buffaloes seemed like they had all the momentum after the second inning. They loaded the bases with only one out and scored their first run of the inning on a fielder’s choice. Brown stepped to the plate with the bases juiced and delivered a grand slam over the centerfield fence to send West Greene ahead 6-1.
Chuckey-Doak’s response was by matching the Lady Buffs’ big inning with a five-run inning of their own. Hayleigh Seidl began the inning with a single and was driven home on Southerland’s single with some help from an error in the outfield. Kendra Percell delivered another RBI-single for Chuckey-Doak and scored Southerland. Back-to-back singles from Emmie Tipton and Jayden Myers put three aboard before Atchison sent a tightrope down the left field line and cleared the bases with a triple.
After tying the game 6-6 in the third inning, Tralyn Southerland broke the tie in the fourth with a solo home run to center field. Myers singled to score Hayden Kenney and made it 8-6. Atchison delivered another big swing of the bat with a two-RBI single to end the inning. Chuckey-Doak led 10-6 midway through the fourth.
The Lady Buffs scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Arnold singled to help Brown score with two outs.
A two-RBI double from Percell helped extend Chuckey-Doak’s lead to 12-7 in the fifth.
The Lady Black Knights added some insurance in the sixth and ended up providing enough insurance to send everybody home early. Seidl grounded out to serve as the second out, but helped Atchison score in the process. Southerland hit a grounder into the infield and forced West Greene to make an error which helped Malone score a run.
The Lady Buffs could have ended the inning and avoided what was to come the rest of the inning, but could not find that last out. Another costly error in the infield scored another run. With the bases loaded, Myers cleared them with a three-RBI triple to put the run rule into effect.
Chuckey-Doak beat West Greene 18-7 in six innings.
Both teams suit up to play Happy Valley next. Chuckey-Doak travels to Elizabethton to battle the Lady Warriors at 5:30 on Friday. West Greene will make the same trip on Saturday for a 3:00 start time.
