Tennessee, ’Bama to meet again

Mark Morgan / The Item Louisiana Darling Hailey Perkins slides into second base as Alabama's Emma Fincher awaits the throw in Alabama's 8-4 victory on Tuesday in the Dixie Girls Softball World Series.

By EDDIE LITAKER
Special To The Item

If Tuesday was any indication, the Tennessee Darlings will be a tough out in today’s championship round of the Dixie Girls Softball World Series at the Bobby Richardson Sports Complex at Palmetto Park.

Madison, Tenn., completed an undefeated run through the preliminaries with a 20-4 thrashing of Halifax County, Va., to move to the championship round sitting firmly in the driver’s seat.

Hartselle, Ala., will have an opportunity to avenge its only loss in the tournament, a 7-4 Sunday defeat that came on Takayla Adkisson’s three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hartselle eliminated Oberlin, La., 8-4 in Tuesday’s opener.

Madison head coach Daniel Arnold knows that winning the championship will not be an easy task for his team.

“They (Hartselle) are a really good team. We don’t take anything for granted,” Arnold said. “Anybody can be beat twice, so we’re going to show up and play it one game at a time. That’s our mindset. We don’t worry about the next game. We play one game at a time and try to handle our business in one. It’s nice to know that you do have that second game if you can’t (win it in one).”

Madison took charge early against Halifax County and left no doubt as to who the better team was on Tuesday. Tennessee scored seven in the first, seven in the second and six in the third before closing it out in the top of the fourth on the mercy rule. Madison sent the maximum 10 batters to the plate each inning.

Hannah Bassham had three hits, including a double, and scored three runs for Tennessee. Adkisson finished with an RBI sacrifice fly, a solo home run and a double. Other extra-base hits for Madison included a double for Camryn Coley, two doubles for Savannah Lee and a triple for Savannah Woods. All 12 Tennessee players ended with at least one hit and one run scored.

Karina Velasquez finished with two singles and a run for Virginia.

Virginia head coach Matt Gunn was proud of how his team fought back and made it to the semifinals after losing its first game of the tournament.

“They lost their first game, kind of with the deer-in-the-headlights look in the face, and then to relax and come back and still send three teams home, and third place is better than 12th any day and any way you look at it,” Gunn said. “These girls have sacrificed so much all summer long. Their families have sacrificed, brothers and sisters have sacrificed and just to come through like they have since Friday ... I can’t be any prouder of my girls than what I am right now.”

A 4-run third proved to be the difference for Hartselle, giving them a 7-2 lead that proved to be too much for Oberlin to overcome.

Natalie Zuck and Emma Fincher both had two singles and scored twice for Alabama. Josie Halbrooks, Bailee Fincher, Emma Hogan and McKenzey Worley each doubled, with Halbrooks and Fincher scoring a run apiece.

While Hartselle is the defending Dixie Darlings Softball World Series champions, Alabama head coach Brandon Dutton said that most of this year’s team, including the coaches, were not a part of that run.

“We’ve only got two returning players from last year’s team,” Dutton said. “All four coaches were not a part of (last year’s team). So basically we’re all new to this. The girls are new to the team, except for the two, and they were younger last year. Through the support of the city and the other coaches, we asked questions, learned what to expect, and they gave us some really good background information on what we needed to do down here to be successful.”

For Louisiana, Maddisen Martin and Hailey Perkins both had two singles and scored a run apiece. Mary Ellen Lester had an RBI double and scored a run, and Laybee Jinks also had two singles.

“Our week has been wonderful,” said Louisiana head coach Cody Williams. “As far as our franchise, this is the first team we’ve ever been to the World Series. These girls I picked from 30 kids to come to this, where I know a lot of other teams picked from 10 times that amount. We’ve got girls that have got a lot of heart and have never quit, and I’m just as proud as a peacock of them.”

Dutton will probably remind his Alabama team of Sunday’s heartbreaking loss before it takes the field against Tennessee today.

“We want that revenge game.” Dutton said. “We want to see them again.”