MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The two hottest teams in the Collegiate Conference of the South are playing for the inaugural league tournament championship.
Maryville did its part with a 4-2 victory over host Huntingdon on Saturday to sweep through its bracket with three straight victories. Belhaven matched that effort four hours to the west, handling Piedmont 10-2 in five innings to set up hosting duties for the Friday and Saturday best-of-3 conference finals.
The Scots have won nine straight and 17 of their last 20. Belhaven enters riding a 12-game winning streak, with 20 wins in its last 22 starts. The Blazers beat Maryville twice in Jackson back on April 15, 3-2 in 11 innings and 9-5.
The championship series gets underway with a doubleheader Friday at noon Central time. A third game if necessary is set for Saturday at noon Central.
Maryville made sure the "if necessary" game wasn't needed this weekend, finishing off the host Hawks in nerve-racking fashion. The Scots limited the league's best offense (by a long shot!) to a combined five runs in two games played against Huntingdon, with the Hawks never managing to score more than one run in an inning.
Maryville, meanwhile, scored a pair of runs in the first and sixth innings to provide just enough offensive cover for pitchers
Kennedy Henry and
Megan Ackerman. Those two scattered 12 Huntingdon hits and made the pitches when they counted to emerge with a fifth win of the season for Henry along with Ackerman's second save.
"Huntingdon is a great team", Scots head coach
Jill Moore said. "We knew it was going to be a game of inches. We just kept figuring out ways to get out of innings.
"Kennedy and Megan pitched in high-pressure situations all day, but they came through and made the pitches they had to make. They weren't trying to do too much; just letting the defense make plays and that's what we did."
Two Unearned Runs the Difference
Maryville took the lead for the second time in the game with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Ava Whitmire drew a leadoff walk and then
Micayla Clark also reached when her sacrifice bunt was fielded but then thrown poorly to first base.
Then after an
Annie Fowler sacrifice bunt advanced the runners,
Brecca Williams grounded to shortstop and Whitmire was cut down at the plate.
But with two out,
Sara Koonce beat out an infield RBI-single and
Bailey Myers singled to center for insurance and a 4-2 Scots lead.
Ackerman came on in relief of Henry to start this sixth and allowed a pair of baserunners before retiring the last two on a flyout and an attempted bunt.
The Hawks made it interesting in the last of the seventh with three straight singles after two were out. But Ackerman forced the final putout into the glove of right fielder
Cierra Hudson, and the celebration ensued.
Maryville broke on top early with two runs in the top of the first. Williams and Koonce led off with singles and
Jenica Brown followed with a two-out knock to right that plated them both. Huntingdon tied it up with single runs in the first and fifth innings.
"It was tough, it was hard, but it was incredible to watch our players pour their hearts into this weekend," Moore said. "All our hard work really showed.
"It was fun to watch them compete and come out on the winning side. It was a game you wanted to be a part of, and I'm so proud of how we stayed within ourselves and found a way to win."
Starts at the Top
Maryville's top three in the order of Williams, Koonce and Myers all had two hits Saturday. Koonce finished the tournament 4-for-7 with three walks to lead the team in batting average (.571) and on-base percentage (.727). Williams and Myers both batted .500, with Williams tops in runs scored with five.
Emily Hill hit .400 over the weekend and Brown and Whitmire each batted .375, with Brown driving in a team-high six.
Huntingdon had a batter reach base in every inning Saturday. The Hawks for the season entered the game with a .386 batting average that was 50 points higher than second-place Belhaven. But the Scots outscored their three opponents 19-5, including an 11-5 edge over Huntingdon in the two matchups.
The Scots are batting .318 as a team after the weekend's play.
Henry in the highest-pressure college game she's pitched was brilliant, giving the Scots five innings and departing with a 2-2 score against the No. 1 offense in the CCS. She stranded seven Huntingdon baserunners with some clutch pitches, and then turned it over to Ackerman, who pitched the sixth and seventh innings for her second save.
Henry is now 5-2. Huntingdon's Holly Sharp took the loss and finishes her season at 8-2.
Maryville improves to 27-13, while Huntingdon's season ends at 31-10. Belhaven is at 27-11 after a 14-2 CCS regular season.
"To be the best, you've got to beat the best," Moore said. "This is what we have wanted to do since we started conference play, and that's play in this final series. We are excited to be able to go back to Belhaven, learn from our games there and fight to win it."
