By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff softball coach Mandy Walker said her Lady Tigers pride themselves on how well they can compete with Spring Garden.
For four innings in their game with the Lady Panthers on Tuesday, they fell short of competing at a high level and fell behind by eight runs.
But things began to change for Cedar Bluff in the bottom of the fifth inning.
They scored three runs, then followed that up with six more after sending 11 batters to the plate to make it a one-run game.
The late spark the Lady Tigers found led to them walking things off on a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the seventh inning for a dramatic 11-10 victory. It was Cedar Bluff’s first win of the season (1-4).
“For our mentality, it’s a huge win,” Walker said. “We pride ourselves with how we can compete with them. They’re an elite school. They’re elite in everything they do. For us to be able to just compete is what we want to do. When we compete and compete well, we come out with a win every now and then.”
Walker’s daughter, eighth grade catcher Paityn Walker, scored the winning run after reaching on an error at second.
“I didn’t even have to know what my coach was going to say. As soon as I saw that ball go by her, I knew right then and there to go score,” Paityn Walker said. “When we get our stuff together we can get it done. That’s what happened tonight. We played the hardest we could those last few innings.”
But it was Spring Garden (0-1) that took all the momentum early. Despite just having two days of practice since the end of basketball season, the Lady Panthers scored a pair of runs in the top of the first. They batted around in the second and tacked on five more, with the big blow Helena Ingram’s two-run shot to left center field. Spring Garden added another run in the top of the fourth for an 8-0 advantage before Cedar Bluff finally found its spark.
Leadoff hitter Kylie Vadon delivered a two-run single, then pitcher Kaylyn Vadon followed run-scoring double to right to cut Spring Garden’s advantage to 8-3.
Spring Garden got two of those runs back in the top of the sixth for a 10-3 lead, but the Lady Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and scored six runs to pull them within a run. Right fielder Tylee Bradford slapped a two-run single and Rylie Walker belted a three-run double for the big hits in the inning.
“They finally work up and started doing some of those little things,” Coach Walker said. “When we got behind, they started getting down on themselves. It just took that one person to kind of spark it. Our bats are good enough where we can win ball games.”
After Kaylyn Vadon worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, second baseman Anna Henderson led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center and later scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Paityn Walker reached on a booted ball at second with one out. Spring Garden loaded the bases with two outs with an intentional walk to Kaylyn Vadon, which led to Paityn Walker scoring the winning run.
“I felt we got happy with what (runs) we had,” Spring Garden coach Ann Welsh said. “That’s something I’ve talked to them about for years. There’s no amount of runs you can score to make yourself feel like you have the game. I felt like we needed to dig in a little more offensively.”
Ingram, Avery Steward and Olivia Law each went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Lady Panthers. Law had a double for Spring Garden. Addie Word finished 1-for-2.
Lilly McCain suffered the loss for the Lady Panthers after working 6 2/3 innings. She gave up five earned runs on seven hits with seven walks and four strikeouts.
Kaylyn Vadon earned the win for Cedar Bluff. She allowed four earned runs on seven hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
The two teams now prepare for the Cherokee County Tournament on Thursday at Cedar Bluff. The Lady Tigers take on Gaylesville at 4 p.m. Spring Garden tangles with Sand Rock immediately after at 5:30 p.m.
