The Greeneville softball team pounded the ball all over the park on Thursday on the way to taking down Cherokee 14-4.
The Lady Devils collected 17 hits in the win. Four of those hits went for extra-bases while five different players earned multiple hits.
“I’m really proud of the girls, I felt like they came out ready to play. We’ve talked a lot about when we get down early to respond well,” Greeneville coach Lilly Million said. “I felt like they did that today. We kept adding runs throughout the game, and responded well to falling behind early.
“I liked that we made adjustments at the plate as the game went on,” Million said. “By the end of the game we were focused on hitting the ball hard and down, instead of trying to lift everything out of here. That’s the reason we were able to run rule them at the end.”
The powerful performance at the plate comes just two days after Greeneville used 15 hits to beat another District 2-3A foe, Grainger, 17-7 on Tuesday. With the back-to-back district wins Million is feeling good about her squad heading toward the postseason.
“I feel great as we are getting close to the postseason. Our bats are getting hot at the right time, and that’s all I can ask for,” Million said. “We’re starting to click, and we knew that this was a big week for us. They have come out focused and given 100-percent effort.”
Cherokee got on the board first on Thursday with two runs in the first inning. A walk, single and error quickly loaded the bases for Baylee Russell who hit into another error that allowed the first run of the day to score. Brayley Bowlin then sent a line drive to right field that pushed the Lady Chiefs’ lead to 2-0.
Million went to the circle to talk to her pitcher, and Jamie Jackson struck out the next two batters, stranding three Lady Chiefs on the base path.
Greeneville got both of those runs back in the bottom of the first frame. Baylee Ramsey was hit by a pitch and then Kyla Jobe slammed a line drive into centerfield. Brynlee Jones knocked in both runners when she sent a hot shot past the third baseman.
The Lady Devils’ lead grew to 4-2 in the second inning. Brooke Parsley reached on an error, Kinslee Lewandowski skipped a single past the shortstop and Kaley Garland was hit by a pitch. That set up Jobe to fire a line drive into left field for a two-run single.
Cherokee’s Lydia Augusta pinned a triple into the right field corner with two outs in the top of third inning to push across two runs which tied the score at 4-4.
A big swing by Addie Lamons in the bottom of the third inning broke the tie and fired up the Lady Greene Devils’ whole lineup. Lamons took a heavy hack at the first pitch she saw and sent the ball sailing over the wall in left center for a solo home run.
The Lady Devils did not slow down there. Gabby Atchison immediately followed with a single and she scored when Parsley banged a line drive off the left-field fence. Garland fired an RBI double into left field and Ramsey got a two-run single past the third baseman. Jobe knocked in Ramsey to push the led to 10-4.
“Hitting is contagious, and all we want is for the leadoff batter each inning to get on base, because good things will follow when that happens. Hits like Addie’s get everyone fired up and can get a big inning started,” Million said.
Four runs in the fifth inning allowed the Lady Devils to end the game by run rule.
Jobe led off the side with a walk and scored from first when Jones smashed a double deep into left field. Lamons pushed across Jones with a sacrifice fly. Garland pushed across the third run when she legged out a single to the left side. A bases-loaded error scored Parsley and ended the contest.
Lewandowski led the way for Greeneville’s offense by going 4-for-4 with two runs scored. Jobe was 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Garland was 3-for-4 with a double, and two RBIs. Jones was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Parsley was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, and Lamons had a home run and three RBIs.
Jackson earned the win from the circle. She struck out two, walked six and allowed nine hits in five innings.
