By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
ALBERTVILLE – The timely hits have been Sand Rock’s Achilles heel all softball season, and once again it bit them in a Class 2A East Regional elimination game against sixth-ranked West End at Sand Mountain Park in Albertville on Tuesday.
The Lady Wildcats had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the top of the second inning. They loaded the bases with no outs, but West End pitcher Braylee King retired the side on a pair of pop ups and a fielder’s choice at third.
Meanwhile, the Lady Patriots posted at least one run in six innings, but Sand Rock didn’t go down without a fight.
The Lady Wildcats scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and two more on Molly Grace Lay’s second inside-the-park home run in as many days an inning later, but they were too little too late in an 8-4 season-ending loss.
“We put it in play all day. That’s all you can do to give yourself a chance at the plate,” Sand Rock coach Josh Bates said. “Molly had the big inside-the-park home run that gave us a little bit of a spark to get back in it at a four-run game, but getting on base and not getting the timely hit was our nemesis today. “I’m proud of our girls and their fight. They kept working to be in the ball game and give ourself a chance.”
It’s the second straight year Sand Rock’s softball season has ended against West End. The Lady Patriots defeated Sand Rock 10-2 in an elimination game almost one year ago to the day.
“We’ve had a lot of battles with them throughout the years,” Bates said. “Respect to Coach (Ricky) Watkins, their program and what they do. We always have good battles. We play each other during the regular season too just because I know we get good competition.”
Liddy Falkner led the Lady Patriots at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a RBI. Emma Franklin and Bella Falkner were both 2-for-3. Franklin had a pair of doubles and drove in a pair of runs. 2-for-3 with two
Falkner doubled, walked and drove in two runs. Kennedi Nix also had a pair of hits and drove in a pair of runs. Daleigha Wheeler doubled and Kayla Dixon finished with a hit.
King earned the win complete game win. She allowed a pair of earned runs on nine hits and had a pair of strikeouts.
Aubie Camp collected three hits for Sand Rock. Lay went 2-for-3 with her two-run inside-the-park home run to right field in the sixth.
Bates describes Lay as “fast as lightning.”
“She hit it in that right field corner, and these fields are so big if you have a kid who’s fast and can run well, they’ve got a chance if that ball gets down in the corner,” he said. “She’s been hitting the ball really well.
I’m proud of her.”
Aliyah King also had a pair of hits for Sand Rock, including a double. Alyvia McMichen and Raven Todd both contributed a hit for the Lady Wildcats.
Emma Sipsy suffered the loss. She allowed all eight runs on 11 hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Macy Martin worked a scoreless sixth with a walk.
“I’m proud of our girls and how hard we’ve worked,” Bates said. “This year we had to keep building and keep working. To see where we started to where we finished, I’m very proud of them.”
