It’s a big week for Lady Waves softball. The girls have five games in as many days, and the first three are district contests. To start off this string of games, the Lady Waves traveled to “The Swamp” in Harriman for the first half of an away and home series. This is the first the SOR girls have seen of the Lady Devils since last year’s district tournament, and no one was completely sure what to expect.
Harriman’s new pitcher started out throwing hard, and, after a week of vacation, it took the girls in green a while to catch up. The Lady Waves failed to put a runner on base in the first inning. The Lady Devils got one hit in the bottom. However, balls fielded by third baseman Hali Morris and pitcher Michelle Walden both ended up in the glove of first baseman Taylr Hall to record two outs. Walden threw her first strike out of the game to get the Lady Waves off the field.
In the top of the second, Midway second baseman Taylor Narramore became the first Lady Wave batter to reach base in this game when she drew a walk with one out. Short stop Hayley Patterson hit a hard single up the middle of the infield, and catcher Paige Moree followed with another single to load the bases. Things were looking up for the Lady Waves. Unfortunately, a fielder’s choice and a ground out followed, and Midway left three runners stranded. The Lady Wave defense kept the game scoreless through the second, though. Patterson caught a high infield fly, Walden recorded another strike out, and Hall fielded a grounder and made a tag to get the third out.
The third inning saw the Midway offense finally capitalize. The Lady Waves were back to the top of their order, and center fielder Danielle Borum started off with a hard single through the middle of the infield. Walden came up and hit a rope to far right field. Against most right fielders, it would have been a base hit that might have scored the speedy Borum. Harriman’s right fielder made a great play, though, catching the ball and doubling up Borum at first base. With two outs and no runners on, the Lady Waves had to start over. Left fielder Haley Parks started by drawing a walk. Then, freshman right fielder Alex Richardson blasted a huge triple to break the ice and put Midway up 1-0. Narramore followed with an RBI single, and it was 2-0 by the time Harriman recorded the third out. Walden hooked up with Hall for another ground out to start the bottom, then threw a strike out for the second out. Harriman managed to put a runner in scoring position with a double, but a fly out to Morris ended the threat.
The Lady Waves had shaken the rust off by this point. In the top of the fourth, they opened this one up and went full throttle. Moree singled, and Morris reached on an error. Hall drove an RBI single to the outfield, then Borum got an RBI on a ground out at first. Walden reached on an error that scored another run, and freshman Halie Wiley came in as her courtesy runner. Parks singled and Richardson walked to load the bases. Then, Narramore came up and drove in another run on a ground out. Patterson followed by hitting a 2 RBI single, which made the score 8-1 before Harriman got the last out. Richardson chased a long fly ball all the way back to the right field fence and made a great catch to get the first out of the bottom of the fourth. After two base hits, Walden settled back down and hurled a strike out. That was followed by a ground out play from Patterson to Hall.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Hall drew a walk, and Wiley entered the line up as her substitute. After stealing two bases, Wiley was driven home by a Borum ground out. After the third out, Midway had added another run and led 9-1. In the bottom, Wiley took right field and Richardson moved to first base. A walk started off the frame. Richardson saw action early, as Narramore delivered the ball to her on a grounder for the first out. For the second out, Richardson was on the receiving end of another ground ball play, this time fielded fielded by Morris. Harriman’s base runner was able to get home on that one, scoring the Lady Devils’ lone run of the game. The next batter hit back to Walden, who threw to Richardson for the third out.
Parks singled to start off the sixth, and Richardson reached on an error. With one out, Patterson drove a run in on a ground out. Moree followed by scorching a hot triple to center field to score Richardson. Moree was left stranded after another Midway out, but the SOR girls now led 11-1. All they had to do to run rule the Lady Devils was hold them scoreless in the bottom of the sixth. And that they did. Patterson connected with Richardson on a grounder for the first out. Walden put the exclamation point on by throwing back to back strike outs to end the game.
It looks like the Lady Waves used this game to get back into form after the long vacation. Top performers at the plate included Moree (3-4, RBI), Parks (2-3), and Patterson (2-4, 3 RBI). Walden threw for six strike outs in the win.
On Tuesday, the Lady Waves complete the second half of the away and home series when they host the Lady Devils. District play continues on Wednesday, as the Midway girls host the Rockwood Lady Tigers in a rematch of last month’s close Midway victory. On Thursday, the Lady Waves go for revenge at home against AA McMinn Central, who beat the SOR girls a couple weeks ago (barely). Finally on Friday, the girls in green make the short trip across the bridge for a big showdown with AA Kingston. Last year, the Lady Waves swept the Lady Jackets. Can the Midway girls make it three in a row? All game times are 5:30 PM.