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BY DEAN FOX
MURFREESBORO — As the sun sank and a chance for another miraculous rally went with it, Grace Christian’s players commiserated the end of the season. Baseball coach Brent Walsh allowed himself a moment to look ahead.
The Rams had their season end with a 4-2 loss to Clarksville Academy in the losers’ bracket final of the Division II-A state baseball tournament Thursday night, but it had still been an exciting day.
“To finish third in the state, as young as we are, we had a fantastic season,” Walsh said.
Grace started two eighth-graders and two freshmen, and fought its way to a third-place finish despite being “probably the youngest team in the state of Tennessee.”
The Rams twice showed their resilience on Thursday.
Playing Providence Academy in the morning, Grace rallied to win 7-4 with a six-run sixth inning. Treyson Derry had the biggest blow, a two-out bases-clearing double to break a 4-all tie.
In the nightcap — with a spot in the championship game at stake — Clarksville Academy scored twice in the third to grab the lead and then added another run in the seventh. As it had before, Grace faced a 4-1 deficit and was running out of outs.
With two outs and a runner on first, Dylan Channell singled through the right side. Mason Pike walked, loading the bases and putting the tying run on first. Derry singled up the middle to make it 4-2 before Clarksville Academy starter Colton Wallace struck out Ben Hamilton to end the rally.
Clarksville Academy will face Columbia Academy in the championship 10 a.m. CDT Friday at MTSU, needing to win two games to capture the title.
For Grace, it was a tough way to end, but the season was a good start for a program that ended a nine-year state tournament drought.
“We challenged them all year long, and they learned and they grew,” Walsh said. “They’re a resilient bunch. You saw that there in the last inning loading the bases and scoring a run, and you saw that in the first game, scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat a really good Providence team, a team we hadn’t beaten in my three years here.”
Grace finished 26-14.
“This is just the beginning — we’ve put Grace baseball back at the top of the list, where people will start coming for us,” Walsh said. “We won’t be the underdogs long.”