The North Greene softball team picked up two wins on Saturday in the Tiny Day/ Red Edmonds Memorial Tournament and earned itself a spot in Sunday’s championship bracket with a 3-0-1 record.
“It’s really encouraging to see this from the girls,” North Greene coach Avery Weems said. “One of our goals coming in was to get into the Gold Bracket on Sunday. We’d like to go 4-0, but 3-0-1 is the next best thing. I’m pretty pleased right now.”
Saturday started with the Lady Huskies taking on Class 4A Jefferson County and coming away with a 5-3 win.
“I was pretty pleased with this morning. The defense was a little shaky at the start, but once we got going we settled into the game,” Weems said. “Hannah (Brooks) threw really well. We knew they could hit it, but we made some plays behind her. Offensively we got a gutsy effort where the girls made things happen.”
The Lady Patriots started the morning contest with some hard swings and Kayli Reece sent a ground ball through the left side that scored two runs. Reece tried to go from first to home on a fly ball by Carsyn Cobbett, but Josie Graham gunned her down at the dish for the first out of the inning.
Hannah Brooks struck out the next batter and got out of the side with Jefferson County leading 2-0.
After the first inning Brooks settled in and sat down the next six Lady Patriots in order. She finished with six strikeouts, no walks and five hits allowed.
“Once she gets good and loose and settles in she finds her groove. She did a good job of feeling out their batters and making whatever adjustments she needed to,” Weems said.
North Greene put a dent in the lead in the third innings. It started with Heidi Trentham reaching on a dropped pop fly. A passed ball and a sacrifice bunt moved her up, and when Eva Leonard hit into a groundout to the shortstop Trentham safely crossed the dish to close the gap to 2-1.
In the fourth inning North Greene swung the advantage in its favor. That began with Graham popping a ball up behind third base that the shortstop could not handle. As the ball bounced away Graham raced to second. That is where she scored from when Addi Dean slammed a groundball up the middle.
The Lady Huskies went in front 4-2 when Tralyn Southerland blasted a towering home run over the fence in left-centerfield.
“That home run was huge. It put us in front, and you could feel the change in the game. It swung the momentum our way,” Weems said.
Jefferson County got one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Cobbett led off the side with a solo home run. After an error Kaycee Morgan ended up on third, but Brooks got out of the side with a strikeout of Ellie Engle.
In the top of the fifth Kinlea Eastep used a pair of errors by the third baseman to get into scoring position. First her hit to the hot corner was bobbled, and then when the throw sailed past its intended target she took second base.
Leonard moved her up by legging out a single, and Brooks pushed her across on a ground out that made it 5-3.
Three fly outs on four pitches ended the Lady Patriots’ comeback hopes in the bottom of the frame.
North Greene used just three hits to score its five runs, but opportunistic base running kept the pressure on the Lady Patriots.
NORTH GREENE 12, KNOX CENTRAL, Ky. 3
In its second game on Saturday North Greene got hits from everybody and took down Knox Central, Kentucky 12-3.
“We got off to a quick start offensively and kept that momentum going. I was pretty pleased all round. Charlie (Turnmire) threw strikes and we played good defense behind her,” Weems said.
The Lady Huskies got 13 hits from 10 different batters with five of those hits going for extra bases.
“That’s excellent to see that kind of balance throughout the lineup. That makes it hard for the other team to navigate through your lineup and get outs,” Weems said.
The Lady Huskies went to bat first and took control of the game with four runs in the opening frame.
Kinlea Eastep led off with a groundball the shortstop could not handle. She stole third and when the throw missed her she continued on to score the afternoon’s first run.
Leonard knocked a groundball past the third baseman and Hannah Brooks flew a double into left field to make it 2-0. Josie Graham put a double down the third-base line and Charlie Turnmire made it 4-0 on a line drive to right field.
“That was huge to get in front early. When you are playing a team you don’t really know much about you really want to focus on you. We came out aggressive and hit some balls hard.”
Knox Central scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Gabby Pilarski knocked in the first run by dropping a single over third base. With two outs Shelbi Smith beat out an infield single that allowed Blakely Castle to score from third and close the gap to 4-2.
North Greene went in front 7-2 in the third inning. Southerland scored the first two runs with her second home run of the day. This one sailed over the right-field fence and made it 6-2.
Turnmire then dropped a single over second base into shallow centerfield. She scored from third on a sacrifice fly from Brylee Lutz.
The third inning ended with Eastep going over the fence in centerfield to rob Smith of a home run. That seemed to inspire the Lady Huskies’ offense and they responded with four runs in the top of the fourth.
With two outs Graham and Addi Dean started things with back-to-back doubles. Southerland pounded a groundball past the third baseman to score Dean. Heidi Trentham then knocked an RBI single through the right side and Chloe Keys knocked an RBI single through the left side to make it 11-2.
In the fifth inning Lydia Fillers became the 10th Lady Husky to record a hit when she sent a fly ball to centerfield. She scored the final run of the day on a bases-loaded walk.
Graham finished the day 2-for-2 with two doubles and three runs scored. Southerland went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs. Turnmire was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Brooks and Dean both had doubles.
Turnmire earned the win. In five innings she struck out one, walked three and allowed six hits
North Greene will be back in action on Sunday at 1 PM against Volunteer in the championship bracket. If they beat the Lady Falcons the Lady Huskies will play David Crockett at 3:30 PM. Daniel Boone will play Cocke County in the other semifinal. The tournament’s championship game will be played at 4:45 in Hardin Park.
