With Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Rockwood less than 24 hours behind them, the Lady Waves had to turn their collective focus to giving some payback to McMinn Central on Thursday evening. The AA Lady Chargers had defeated the SOR girls by a narrow margin a couple weeks earlier. After the lack of hitting in the Rockwood game, the Lady Waves must have felt they had something to prove in this one.
Things didn’t start out too well. Central’s lead-off batter managed to reach base and was soon knocked in, as the Lady Chargers drew first blood. Well not quite first blood. One Lady Wave fan was brutally struck by a foul ball from the adjoining baseball field before that. We’ve got to get that net extended. Back to the softball field, and the Midway bats didn’t do much in the bottom of the first. After one, Central led 1-0.
The Lady Wave defense clamped down in the second inning, allowing only one base runner. That lone runner tried to make it to third, but was gunned down by catcher Winky Stansbury and tagged out by third baseman Hali Morris. The Midway bats heated up in the bottom of the second. Second baseman Taylor Narramore, right fielder Paige Moree, center fielder Danielle Borum and first baseman Michelle Walden all knocked in runs. Morris scored on a passed ball after walking. Left fielder Haley Parks was stranded after getting a base hit, and the score after two was 5-1 Midway.
The Lady Chargers put another runner on in the third inning, and she also tried for third. Stansbury and Morris did a replay of their earlier hook-up, and the Lady Waves were back to the dugout. Moree hit a big double in the bottom of the third, but she was left stranded.
In the bottom of the fourth, Walden walked, and pitcher Alex Richardson blasted a double. Narramore also walked, and an RBI single from short stop Hayley Patterson brought in Walden. Moree was hit by a pitch, and Morris brought another runner home on a ground out. Stansbury reached on an error that scored two runs for Midway. All of that gave the Lady Waves a 10-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Richardson struck out the first two batters. Moree made a great play and forced the third batter out on a throw from right field. If the Lady Waves could score just one run in the bottom of the inning, they would win by the run rule. After the first two batters grounded out, it looked like we would have another inning. Freshman Richardson ended that notion with one swing. Richardson went high and deep to center field for the walk off home run.
It was an overall good showing for the Lady Waves, as the girls in green defeated a much larger school. Hopefully, it was a good warm-up for Friday’s game against the Kingston Lady Jackets. That game will be at Southwest Point at 5:30 PM.