On a warm Friday evening, Midway players, coaches and fans traveled across the bridge to historic Southwest Point to watch what has become a premiere rivalry in TSSAA fast pitch softball. The Midway Lady Waves had won two straight in their series with the AA Kingston Lady Jackets, dating back to March 2009. Would this year’s “new look” Lady Wave squad be able to keep the streak going against the much larger school? The Yellow Jackets are tied for 1st place with the Alcoa Lady Tornadoes and have been playing some great ball.
Things did not start out well for the Lady Waves. In fact, things couldn’t have started much worse. After the Midway offense went three up, three down in the top of the first, the Midway defense was pounded in the bottom of the inning. A double and a home run put two on the board early for Kingston. Several Midway errors and a couple more hits by the Lady Jackets increased the score further. The Kingston lineup batted around. By the time the SOR girls got the bleeding stopped, it was 6-0 Kingston.
Although the warm April sun beat down, the bats didn’t get any hotter for Midway in the second inning. Three consecutive strike outs. The Midway defense did recover nicely. Three batters, three outs.
If you’ve watched these Midway girls play as much softball as the writers of this article have, then you knew a rally was coming. To start the third frame, right fielder Paige Moree, third baseman Hali Morris and catcher Winky Stansbury all singled to load the bases. After Moree scored on a passed ball, center fielder Danielle Borum lodged a ball in the outfield fence for a 2 RBI ground rule double. Later in the inning, first baseman Alex Richardson singled to knock in Borum and brought Midway within two runs of Kingston. In the bottom of the inning, the Lady Waves once again held the Lady Jackets scoreless. All of the sudden, we had a ball game again.
The fourth inning saw only seven batters combined for the two teams, and the score remained 6-4 in favor of the Lady Jackets.
In the top of the fifth, the Lady Waves made another push. Singles by Stansbury, Borum and pitcher Michelle Walden loaded the bases again for Midway. Later, with one out, Richardson reached on a Kingston error that brought Stansbury home. Second baseman Taylor Narramore then came to the plate with the bases loaded. Narramore smacked a HUGE triple that cleaned off the bases and gave the Lady Waves an 8-6 lead! The Midway crowd went as wild as we’ve ever seen them. It was pandemonium!
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the sixth inning. A few more Midway errors, one hit and one walk allowed the Lady Jackets to gain the advantage once again. Richardson took over pitching duties toward the end of the sixth, and Walden moved to first base. With one inning left in regulation play, Kingston led 9-8.
The Lady Waves had to score at least one run in the top of the seventh to stay alive. Walden got things started with a single. Subbing in to run for her was Sophmore speedster Kayla Hamilton. Hamilton managed to steal over to third base, and Richardson walked and stole second base. Narramore had another major at-bat. She put the ball in play in the infield. The Kingston fielder tried to go home to get Hamilton, but the freshman was too fast. Hamilton slid safely across home plate, and the score was tied 9-9! The Lady Waves left Richardson and Narramore stranded. In the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Waves had to hold Kingston scoreless and hope for extra innings. The Lady Jackets managed to get two runners on with two outs. The next Kingston batter made solid contact, but the ball was fielded perfectly by short stop Hayley Patterson. Patterson calmly threw to Walden at first for the third out. Extra innings!
In the top of the eighth inning, the Lady Waves loaded the bases with two outs, but got no runs. Kingston had two runners on with two outs in the bottom. The next Lady Jacket batter lined the ball hard over first base. It could have been disastrous for Midway. However, Walden saved the day as she made a GREAT lunging snag for the third out.
The Lady Waves once again loaded up the bases in the top of the ninth. Once again, no runs. To say the Midway crowd was anxious would have been putting it mildly. But if the crowd had it rough, you can only imagine what was on the mind of freshman pitcher Alex Richardson. Richardson had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a 3 balls no strikes count on the next batter. By this time the Kingston boys game was over and it looked as if ever baseball fan had moved to the softball field. But it appeared that this game would very likely be decided by a walk. Not so fast, Richardson calmly delivered 4 strikes, one being fouled off and the fourth pitch knocked hard toward second base where Narramore scooped the ball and pitched to Walden at first to get out of the inning. Hundreds of screaming fans and the little freshman threw 4….STRAIGHT….STRIKES to breath new life into the Green team and extend the game another inning.
The sun had gone down by now, and the ball park lights had come on. Excitement sizzled in the air like electricity. All of the players and most of the spectators were hoarse from yelling and cheering. The beginning of the tenth inning brought another exciting variable into the game: The International Tiebreaker Rule. To start the inning, the last batter to get out from each team in the previous inning would start as a runner on second base. The Lady Waves were fortunate to have as their runner the very quick Danielle Borum. By the time the first Lady Wave batter got out, Borum had stolen third base. Senior left fielder Haley Parks was next. Parks put the ball in play. The Kingston fielder made the throw to first to get the second out, but Borum scored easily. 10-9 Midway! That’s all the Lady Waves could get in the tenth. If only they could hold Kingston scoreless. The Lady Jackets started with their clean-up hitter on second base. The first batter grounded out to Patterson, and the runner stayed put. Richardson walked the next batter. The following Lady Jacket hitter grounded out to first, but moved both runners. So, Kingston now had runners on second and third with two outs. Richardson and the entire Lady Wave defense had a tremendous amount of pressure on them again. With two strikes on the batter, Richardson made her delivery. The batter made a big cut… and missed! Strike three! Catcher Stansbury squeezed the ball in her glove, and the Midway players, coaches and fans celebrated.
It was a great game played well by the players on both teams. The Kingston pitcher, Mica Gaines, pitched a great game.
The Midway girls will be right back in action on Monday but for this night they partied all the way to the Wild Wings Saloon in Knoxville. It was a great win for the girls in Green but next week would have to wait while the girls let this one soak in
Top performers at the plate included Danielle Borum (3-6, 2 RBI), Michelle Walden (3-6), Winky Stansbury (3-5) and Taylor Narramore (2-5, 4 RBI).
Walden and Alex Richardson combined for a gutsy game from the pitcher’s plate. Walden came at the Kingston batters hard and forced them to swing. Richardson held up under unbelievable stress in the late innings.
Next week, the Lady Waves will travel to Tellico for an important district game on Monday. On Tuesday the SOR girls will host… the Kingston Lady Jackets.