Chattanooga Christian, Baylor Meet In State Final
Baylor Earns Title Shot Following Wins Over Knox Catholic & GPS
SMYRNA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Christian Lady Chargers are a win away from their second straight Tennessee state softball championship.
CCS defeated Baylor by an 11-2 final in Tuesday's D-II-AA opener and they beat the GPS Bruisers by a 3-1 final to earn a spot in Friday morning's winner take all championship that will be played at MTSU's Blue Raider Softball Field.
All the Division II games had been moved to Cedar Stone Park after much rain fell on Wednesday.
While the Lady Chargers advanced with their second win of the week, Baylor also advanced, starting with a 10-1 win over Knoxville Catholic in Thursday's loser's bracket before handing GPS an 8-1 loss for a fourth shot at CCS.
CCS coach Steven Rogers is just happy that the winning continues for his team.
"Winning our first state title last year was nice, but for us to win again would really be special," he said following the win over GPS and doing his best to not look ahead.
"We've faced a lot of adversity this week with all the bad weather as we sat on the bus yesterday for a long time before finding out that we weren't going to play until today. I thought the GPS pitchers did a nice job of keeping our hitters off balance, but we were able to finally get some timely hits.
"Kylie Black pitched another great game, but we've been leaning on her most of the season," he praised his senior who has now lost one game while winning 23.
Thursday's win for CCS was its third of the season against GPS, but all three have been close, including 7-1 and 5-0 during the regular season.
The Bruisers had an outstanding season, despite not having it end the way they wanted in a loss to Baylor after beating them twice in the regular season as they scored 20 runs in the process.
"This was a really good game for us as we just kept competing," said GPS coach London Cornelius after the loss to CCS.
"Our pitchers did exactly what they needed to do. We just came up a little bit short," she smiled.
The Lady Chargers were the visiting team in the game against GPS and they took an early lead when Black drove in the first run with a fielder's choice.
GPS evened the score with a run in the third. Calieah Reyes earned a walk with one out and scored on a triple by Abigail Lewis.
The Bruisers never really threatened again until the seventh when Jayla Gladden led off with a single and went to third on a two-out double by Bailey Long, but they were left there when Black recorded her 12th strikeout to end the game.
CCS scored the winning runs in the fifth when Hannah Smith reached on a one-out error. Millie Fox then reached on an infield single before a fly to center by Nyla Halfacre allowed Smith to score. E.C. Chaffin then walked before Kenzie Knox drove in the final run with a single to left.
Fox was the leading hitter for the Lady Chargers with three hits while Knox had two. Gladden set the pace for the Bruisers with three hits.
While Black was the winning pitcher for CCS, Addison Jones took the loss after allowing all three runs in 4.2 innings. Sky Marshall finished up and didn't allow anything in the final 2.1 innings.
Thursday was a big day for Baylor as their bats came to life in both wins. The most important part of those wins was the fact they now have a chance to play for another state title. They will have to beat CCS twice on Friday, but we all know that anything is possible.
"I'm so proud of these young ladies as we played well in both games today," said Baylor coach Kelli Smith after her team had improved to 25-7 with the two wins.
"And what a gutty performance by Addison Wallington after having a tough day on Tuesday. But we had given up 20 runs in two losses to GPS before allowing just one today. We had some big two-out hits and I feel like Xahara Willis' homer in the sixth was just the final nail for us.
"Chloe Cunningham played outstanding defense at second and Brenna Bagley made a great throw from right to nail a runner at third. But now we have to beat CCS twice tomorrow," she smiled, knowing that her team is capable of beating anyone.
Chattanooga Christian, Baylor Meet In State Final - Chattanoogan.com
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