OXFORD – It wasn’t the best of omens for a team making their first appearance at the state softball tournament in Oxford.
Sophomore pitcher/first baseman Reece Patterson slammed her right pinky finger in a door at home. Her nail was just hanging by a thread.
“Yesterday (Monday), I get a text about 6 o’clock or so, and she’d slammed it in the door,” Cedar Bluff coach Garrett Crane said. “It was just one more thing to chalk up to adversity there.”
Despite her injured finger, Patterson toughed it out and played. She even pitched and delivered a two-run homer to left center field in the Lady Tigers’ second game against second-ranked South Lamar, but her admirable effort wasn’t enough.
Top-ranked Brantley blanked the Lady Tigers 10-0 in six innings and second-ranked South Lamar eliminated the Lady Tigers with an 8-4 decision.
The story of the first game was Brantley freshman pitcher Kaylee Navarre. She tossed a two-hit shutout with 17 strikeouts.
The Lady Tigers (13-26-1) tallied their only hits on infield singles – Mary Sausville in the top of the second inning and Haley Allen in the sixth.
Kayden Dunn led the Lady Bulldogs at the plate by going 2-for-2 with two-run homer to left field in the third inning. She was also intentionally walked twice. Campbell Hawthorne and Ainsley Watts also had a pair of hits apiece for Brantley. Navarre was 1-for-2.
Jordyn Walker suffered the loss for the Lady Tigers.
“(Navarre’s) stuff was good, and Brantley’s a very good ball club all the way through,” Crane said. “We didn’t give them a whole lot of opportunities to make plays in the field, but that goes back to their pitcher. She spun it real well. She moved the ball. She hit her spots.”
Cedar Bluff appeared to have shaken off their opening-round loss early in game against South Lamar. The Lady Tigers took a 3-0 lead, with the big hit of the inning Patterson’s two-run blast.
But the Lady Stallions rallied for four runs against Patterson in the bottom of the third to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. They scored four runs in the third and tacked on two runs in the fourth and sixth innings to put the game out of reach.
“The timely hits were the difference today,” Crane said. “We left some runners on. They had runners on second and third and put themselves in positions for that extra-base hit. Unfortunately today they didn’t fall that for us.”
As Crane said, the Lady Tigers managed just four hits against South Lamar pitcher Lana Atkins. In addition to Patterson’s homer in the top of the third, Harlie Nelson, Mattie Payne and Emma Haney had the other Cedar Bluff hits.
However, the Lady Tigers didn’t go down without a fight. They loaded the bases on three straight South Lamar errors and scored a run, but Atkins kept her composure and retired the Cedar Bluff side without any more damage.
Makyleigh Hollinger tripled, walked and drove in a run. Savannah Crimm doubled, singled and drove in three runs. Nealy McManus also doubled in a run. Atkins walked twice and was hit by a pitch.
Despite the season-ending losses on Tuesday at Choccolocco Park, Crane is optimistic about what the future may hold for Cedar Bluff softball.
“They’re a hungry group. Now they have a taste,” Crane said. “They’ve gotten the nerves out. They got to have the experience. Now it’s time to come back through and win the whole thing next year. We’re very young all the way though. It’s a great experience for them. I’m really proud of them. Next year I expect them to have an even better year.”