Alcoa’s Jayde Deal. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By Matthew Lutey
MURFREESBORO — A freshman earning the win at pitcher and hitting a home run in a state tournament game? Kind of a big Deal.
Unless you’re Alcoa freshman Jayde Deal, who seemed unrattled through it all in the Lady Tornadoes’ 9-7 victory over Crockett County on Thursday in the Class 3A tournament.
It was the second win of the day for Alcoa, knocking off state tournament nemesis Liberty Creek 5-2 in the morning.
After dropping its first game of the tournament to Liberty Creek, Alcoa (42-3) has battled back and will match up with Crockett County again on Friday morning at 10 a.m. Central for a spot in the championship game.
Deal entered to pitch during the top of the fourth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. Crockett County already scored twice in the inning to take a 5-4 lead.
Deal got Kiyra Liggins to pop out to first base to end the half inning, and Alcoa snatched the lead right back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
The freshman wasn’t done yet. Her fifth-inning, two-run home run extended the lead to 9-5.
Liberty Creek cut the deficit to 9-7 in the seventh and had runners on first and second. But Deal forced a groundout to end the game, capping off her breakout performance.
“She’s a freshman. And she has not had a very good postseason at the plate; comes up with a huge hit, and then she goes in there (to pitch) and she’s just as cool as a cucumber,” Alcoa coach Sarah Fekete Bailey said about Deal.
“She just goes in there and gets us out of that one inning and gives us a chance to play another day.”
Cool as a cucumber sounds about right considering what Deal said when asked if she experienced any nerves.
“Honestly not really, I knew they (her teammates) had my back. I feel fine.”
Aside from Deal, the story in both Alcoa victories on Thursday was the chaos leadoff hitter Halle Bailey and No. 2 hitter Da’Ja Casby created on the basepaths.
In both games, Casby scored Bailey and herself on bunts. Some throwing errors were involved, but you’d be mistaken if you said the speed of both players didn’t play a factor.
“They are so much fun to watch,” Sarah Bailey said about her daughter, a Tennessee commitment, and Casby, a Walters State commit.
“They make the game exciting, and you always feel like something good is about to happen when they come up, and they get us rolling.”
Bailey went 3-for-4 against Crockett County with three runs scored, and 2-for-3 against Liberty Creek with three runs scored.
Alcoa was also behind against Liberty Creek, but was able to rally to eliminate the team it lost to in the 2A state title game last season, and in the 3A first round on Tuesday.
By the time Thursday’s game against Alcoa was done, Liberty Creek star pitcher Kaylor West had thrown 404 pitches in three days, including 290 against the Lady Tornadoes.
“They just want to keep playing,” Sarah Bailey said, “and I’m here to watch them have fun. I’m really proud of our kids, just their grit and their competitiveness.”