The Alcoa Tornadoes took on the Liberty Creek Wolves in the TSSAA Class 2A state championship game at Blue Raider Softball Field on Friday, May 23, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Liberty Creek won 7-1. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY DEAN FOX
MURFREESBORO – Alcoa’s bid for a second state softball tournament title in four years ran into a pitching buzzsaw Friday night.
The Lady Tornadoes mustered only five hits and a seventh-inning run as they lost to defending state champion Liberty Creek 7-1 in the Class 2A title game at MTSU.
Liberty Creek’s Kaylor West, a junior who pitched a perfect game in last year’s title game, got the win – her third of the tournament.
“Kaylor’s a phenomenal pitcher, and we know her very well,” Alcoa coach Sarah Fekete Bailey said. “She’s a great pitcher. I would say she’s one of the most underrated pitchers in the state of Tennessee. She did a good job of mixing up her locations and until the third time through the lineup, we had a lot of trouble making solid contact.”
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Bailey’s daughter, Halle – Alcoa’s lead-off hitter – played travel ball with West.
Halle Bailey opened the game with a bunt single and stole second and third, but a squeeze play went awry. In the bottom of the inning, the Wolves (31-2) staked West to a three-run lead in the first inning, using a walk, a single and a pair of extra-base hits.
That was all the runs West (a Western Kentucky commitment) needed.
Down 4-0, the Lady Tornadoes threatened in the top of the sixth, using a Katelyn Pitts single and a Wolves error to put a pair of runners on. Tori Haun worked a full count against West, but the pitcher came back and struck her out.
Liberty Creek, a third-year program from Gallatin, responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. The Wolves took advantage of a key error, one of three Alcoa miscues.
The Lady Tornadoes got the board in the seventh, thanks in large part to a Kara Pitts’ double and a pair of singles.
“We had a couple of defensive miscues that happened and kind of put the game out of reach, but when you have your four seniors come up and Kara Pitts lines the ball down the left-field line, they’re not quitters. That’s the kind of people they are, and that’s why they’re going to be successful when they go on to college and in their lives.”
Despite the loss, Alcoa had a tremendous season en route to a fourth straight appearance in the state tournament.
The Lady Tornadoes finished with 40 wins, including five shutouts in the postseason, beating Forrest twice and Watertown 18-0 to make it to the title game.
“I told our kids before the ballgame I was proud of them,” Bailey said. “I told them, ‘It doesn’t matter the outcome; one game doesn’t define your whole season.’ There’s only one team in 2A that’s walking out without losing their last game.
“They outplayed us today. They deserved to win.”