The Alcoa Lady Tornadoes fell Forrest, 10-3, in an opening-round game of the Class 2A State Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (Photo by Charles Mays Media).
BY DREW COOK
MURFREESBORO — A year ago, Alcoa and Forrest played three times in the TSSAA state softball tournament. Alcoa won two of three, including a 6-1 victory in the Class 2A championship game.
Random draw paired the two schools together again this week at state – this time, in the first round.
Forrest got the better of Alcoa this time, scoring nine of their 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to run away with the 10-3 victory.
“There were some moments where calls didn’t go our way, but we can’t control that,” Alcoa head coach Sarah Fekete Bailey said. “All we can control is how we respond to it.
“We have to be able to focus on what we do the next play, the next at-bat.”
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District 2-2A Player of the Year Halle Bailey’s baserunning I.Q. was a driving force in the Lady Tornadoes’ success this season, and showed up early in Tuesday’s game.
In the third, Bailey singled to center and advanced to second on the throw. She advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Adrianna King RBI groundout.
After Forrest scored to tie it at one, Bailey singled, was bunted to second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on another groundout.
“When (Halle) gets on base, I’d say 90 percent of the time she scores,” Coach Bailey said. “We got her on a few times and were able to make some things happen. She does her job, the person behind her does her job, and the next person does their job. I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but we’ve just gotta score more runs for our pitchers.”
After Halle Bailey scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth to give Alcoa a 2-1 lead, the floodgates opened in the bottom half for Forrest.
The Lady Rockets plated six runs in the inning to take a commanding 7-2 lead to the sixth.
In the sixth, Alcoa senior leader Jaylyn Halliburton hit an opposite-field home run to the parking lot to try to spark the late game comeback. Alcoa began to put together a couple hard-hit-balls, but a couple nice Forrest defensive plays kept the lead at four runs.
Forrest added three runs in the bottom half to put the game away at 10-3.
The Lady Tornadoes fall to the losers’ bracket and look to respond tomorrow morning against Scotts Hill. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. Central time.
If they win, they’ll play at 4 against the loser of Westview and Riverside.
“I’m excited to see how they show up tomorrow,” Coach Bailey said.