It wasn’t a typical walk-off grand slam off the bat of Brynlee Jones, it was however the run that ended the game, so a walk-off none the less.
With the bases loaded in the bottom half of the fifth inning Jones was sitting on a fast ball and drilled it over the fence in straight away centerfield that lifted Greeneville to a 13-3 run-rule win over the West Greene lady Buffaloes.
Lady Devils head coach Lilly Million said after the game, “I was super proud of the girls tonight, started a little bit slow, we caught some bad breaks…but overall, I’m very pleased.”
After being shutout and no-hit on Thursday against Unicoi County West Greene wasted no time getting started on Friday.
Aubree Everett sent a rocket up the middle off the glove of shortstop Kaley Garland for single, Abigale Jackson then looped a single into shallow left field and Amanda Owens loaded the bases with single to the left side of the infield. A clean single by Miranda Hunter scored the first run of the game.
Greeneville pitcher Jamie Jackson settled down and struck out Addy Peters to end the threat and limit the Lady Buffs to only a single run.
In the bottom of the frame Garland was hit by a pitch and then stole second base. Baylee Ramsey was bunting to move the runner, but a throwing error allowed both Garland and Ramsey to score and the Lady Devils quickly captured the lead at 2-1, with still no outs.
Jones walked with one out and scored on a double to left field by Kinsley Lewandowski and the Lady Devils were up 3-1 after the first inning.
Alexis Cutshall doubled off the fence in left-center field, she then stole third and home to plate another run for the Lady Buffaloes and cut the lead to 3-2 going into the bottom of the second.
The Lady Buffs went quietly in the top of the third and the Lady Devils added to their lead with five runs in the bottom half. Jones hit a clean single through the hole between short and third. Lewandowski reached with an infield single and Jackson reached with a bunt single to load the bases. Gabby Atchison picked up an RBI when she was hit by a pitch. Lewandowski was erased by a fielder’s choice by Abi Deeble and Jones scored on a wild pitch. Atchison scored on a sacrifice fly by Johnson. Garland then sent a solid single to left field scoring Deeble for an 8-2 lead after three innings.
West Greene’s Hunter led off the top of the fourth with single to left field as Atchison entered the game to pitch and later scored on a wild pitch. The Lady Buffs then stroked back-to-back singles by Peters and Cutshall and a walk to Autumn Carter loaded the bases with nobody out. The Lady Buffs looked to be in good shape to get back in the game. Atchison struck out Everett, got Jackson to pop up and the scoring threat ended when she got a routine fly ball to center out of Kaylee Willett.
The Lady Devils got the run back when Jones was hit by a pitch and scored to make it 9-3 on an RBI ground ball by Jackson after stealing second and third.
Greeneville’s Johnson, Garland and Ramsey walked consecutively to load the bases to start the fifth inning. Parsley took a called third strike for the first out of the inning, then came Jones’ big blast. The first pitch to Jones looked to be a fastball over the heart of the plate and Jones was waiting on it and sent it over the fence to dead centerfield for the win, 13-3.
Million said after the game, “I told her as she was walking to the plate to end it!”
Jones, Lewandowski and Jackson each had two hits for the Lady Devils and Jackson picked up the win inside the circle, scattering five hits while striking out four.
For the Lady Buffs, Owens, Hunter, Peters and Cutshall all had two hits apiece.
