Waves Crush Grace, Colyer Bedevils Harriman for district tournament title
Girls District Softball Tournament
Midway at Grace Christian Academy
Karns, Tennessee
Coach Robert Lee Viar’s Midway Lady Waves opened and closed district tournament play on Tuesday night with a pair of victories to deliver another district championship to the Waves short-in-existence but much decorated softball program. Due to heavy rains on Monday, the tournament was shortened to a single elimination Tuesday afternoon winner take all showdown for the title. Ernie Banks would have been a fan of the lets play two mentality and Midway was the favorite going into the tournament. The big Green softball machine did more than their share to hold up their end of the bargain. Several Green Team fans were in existence, and SORSN.com had this thing covered from every angle possible. Plug: Join Facebook and become a “fan” of the sorsn Facebook page for live updates (we even had pitch-by-pitch updates). Click here to visit the sorsn Facebook page.
In the opener of the night for the Waves, Midway jumped all over Grace with a 13 run first inning outburst that put the game away early. In fact the Waves were so comfortable after one inning that Coach Viar pulled his ace pitcher, Colyer after just one inning pitched, in order to preserve her energy for the championship game. Despite some second guessing from the manager’s wife, the move proved to be the proper one and paid off later in the night. Midway feasted on Grace pitching while Krystal Rue put in a solid pitching performance to lead Midway into the nightcap. Mercifully this game was ended after 4 innings with Midway leading18-3. The Waves did not escape completely unscathed however as the injury bug did bite again with Alex Coffman getting banged up in the opener. In the previous game, Roane County district foe Harriman had eliminated Rockwood to set up a Harriman/Midway final. Now down to the main event.
Harriman versus Midway, District Championship
With the sun setting quickly on this cool spring night, Midway and Harriman were locked in an intriguing battle early in the game. Collier opened the game with a walk and three strikeouts to close out Harriman in the top of the first. The Midway bats came to life early with some well hit balls in the bottom of the first. Midway’s Krystal Rue smoked a line drive double through the Harriman box, Taylor Narramore lined a ball to the Harriman CF, who made a fabulous catch to record the out. Colyer flied out to right to advance the runner to 3rd, but Kati Alexander the Great popped out to end the threat.
The Harriman portion of the second started similar to the first. A leadoff walk and then Colyer settled down to record three straight strikeouts to leave the runner stranded at second base. Midway threatened again in the bottom of the second with a leadoff walk by Hali Morris, a long flyout on a well hit ball by Paige Moore. Danielle Borum struck out, but Ashley Alexander added to the runners on base with a walk. Midway again left ducks on the pond by stranding two runners with a strikeout by Hayley Patterson to close the frame.
Harriman scratched out its only threat of the night with some two out action in the top of the third. Colyer started the inning with a strikeout and then Hali Morris made a good play to record a put out of a well hit ball. Harriman then smoked a ball to the fence in dead center for a standup double. Lady Devils then stole third on some inattentive defense by the Lady Waves and then broke into the scoring column with a passed ball that allowed the runner to advance from third. Colyer settled down to get the batter with a looking strikeout, but Harriman had broken ahead, 1-0.
Midway scratched back the run in the bottom of the inning with some patience and timely hitting. Rue drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and advanced to third on Narramore’s groundout to the shortstop. Colyer scorched an RBI double to left field and the game was tied 1-1. Midway again let the threat die, as they loaded the bases with a couple of walks. The Harriman pitcher settled down and struck out the next two Midway batters to leave the sacks full of Green runners.
As the night air cooler, Hannah Colyer warmed. The middle innings belong to Colyer, both offensively and defensively. Colyer set the Devils down in order in the top of the fourth with three straight strikeouts. Midway tried to mount a threat in the bottom of the fourth with an infield single by Krystal Rue. Rue then stole second before her luck ran out and was caught stealing at third. The fourth inning ended with the game still tied 1-1.
The top of the fifth was all Colyer, all the time with three more strikeouts in order. Viar’s expert managerial move early in the night would pay dividends as the Harriman pitcher started to fatigue from her earlier game work in the bottom of the fifth inning. Midway’s bats would heat up and put the game away with a four run fifth inning to stake Colyer with a 5-1 lead. Narramore drew a tough lead off walk, Colyer grounded to the short stop, but the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag and suddenly Midway had two on with nobody out. Kati Alexander the Great put the ball in play and drove in a run with a groundout that scored Narramore. 2-1, Midway leads. A passed ball allowed Colyer to score and suddenly the Harriman team was shook and behind 3-1. Borum drilled a triple into right center that drove in two more and the Midway lead grew to 5-1. In the days of old Monday Night Football, Dandy Don Meredith would have sung the frame “turn out the lights, the parties over” and in all reality, Midway had the game in hand. Colyer mowed through three more straight strikeouts in the top of the sixth and ran her total on the night to 17 Ks with a simply dominant ten in a row strikeout stretch that reached back to the third inning. Midway chased another run home in the bottom of the sixth with a walk, a passed ball on a third strike and another passed ball that allowed Narramore to score.
The lead was 6-1 at the end of six and the legions of Midway fans, on Facebook and in the stands could smell that the golden hardware would be heading SOR this night. Harriman tried to mount a threat in the top of the seventh with a hit by pitch, a ground out, and a strike out. Harriman tried to swipe a run at the plate on a passed ball but the Midway catcher made a great recovery play and tagged the runner out to end the ballgame in Midway’s favor 6-1.
Congratulation’s to the Lady Waves on yet another District Championship. The Lady Waves will now host Region play this Friday. At the time of this article, it appears the Lady Waves will face Oliver Springs in the 1st round.