By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff senior pitcher Reece Patterson and freshman third baseman Ciana Smith are best friends. Smith said their friendship began when she was a seventh grader, and Patterson has been picking her up ever since she started playing softball.

On Tuesday against Class 3A, No. 4 Piedmont, Smith returned the favor by picking up her pitcher.

Smith went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in both Lady Tiger runs. That proved to be all the run support Patterson needed in the Class 1A, No. 4 Lady Tigers’ 2-1 victory.

Smith’s RBI-single to right in the bottom of the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie. After Piedmont tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the sixth, Smith came through again – this time with a RBI-triple to right to score pinch runner Anna Henderson for what turned out to be the game’s winning run.

“You’ve just got to know your pitch,” Smith said. “For me, the best pitch I hit is anything on the outside. You’ve just got to hunt for your pitch and hit the ball.”

“Ciana is definitely one of our best hitters. Her power is really unmatched,” Patterson said. “I’m really proud of her. It was really special for her to have that big of a moment.”

Cedar Bluff coach Garrett Crane said Smith “really buys into our approach hitting.”

“She comes into work every day,” Crane said. “She showed out tonight.”

Patterson held Piedmont (29-15) to just three hits and a walk. Two of those hits came from Jenna Calvert, both of which were singles. Jaycee Glover had the only other Lady Bulldog hit. Savannah Smith reached on a walk.

“I knew I could keep them off-balance with off-speed,” Patterson said. “In the beginning I was kind of struggling with the zone, but I found my groove and then continued to keep them off-balance with off-speed.”

Crane called Patterson performance in the circle “gutsy.”

“I don’t know what she’s found, what she’s eating or what she’s doing, but she’s come alive and we played well behind her.”

Piedmont coach Rachel Smith said Patterson did a good job of mixing speeds and location on her pitches against the Lady Bulldogs.

“We’ve got to do a better job of making adjustments earlier,” Coach Smith said. “I’m still satisfied with our pitching and defense. It’s just making sure we have productive at-bats. That’s going to have to get fixed in the next couple of days.”

Emma Grace Todd was the tough-luck loser for Piedmont. She surrendered two runs on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

“I felt like Emma Grace did a good job of holding them for as long as she did,” Coach Smith said. “Two of the hits she gave up were down the right field line. That’s indicative of them kind of being late, which we want them to be late, but they just fell in the wrong spot.”

Patterson, Mattie Payne and Natalie Baty had the other hits for Cedar Bluff (19-15). Payne’s hit was a double to right in the fourth.

“This game was really big for us and it meant a lot to me. I’ve never beaten Piedmont,” Patterson said. “This is some big momentum going into area next week. We don’t have to worry about the name on the jersey. We can play with anybody.”

“Hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling,” Crane said. “Our girls understand what’s at stake.

The goal is to have three more weeks of ball.

They’re locked in right now.”