B

NEWPORT – If Grainger head softball coach Ben Williford had any concerns after the Grainger Lady Grizzlies dropped a hard-fought game to Greeneville on Tuesday, his team quickly assuaged those fears early in Wednesday’s game against Cocke County.

The Lady Grizzlies got their bats heated up in a hurry as they scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back from they as they downed the Lady Red 16-3. Grainger advances to the district tournament final Thursday afternoon where they will face Greeneville in a rematch.

“After the game (on Tuesday), we had a meeting and talked about how we did some good things against Greeneville but they hit it really well kind of like we did today,” the Lady Grizzly skipper said. “At the end of that, Brooklyn Copley said ‘I want to play in a regional game as I never have’ and they fought for her.”

“We have been preaching that all year: hit it hard, put it in play and make the other team make a play,” Williford said. “Today we hit the ball hard and when they didn’t make a play, we just kept running and fighting. We had two big bats from two freshmen, Destanee Davis and Amanda Kledizk as they hit it hard.”

Cocke County’s defense struggled throughout the contest as they committed seven errors, most of which Grainger took advantage of. The Lady Red also were facing injury problems with the biggest being starting pitcher Hailee Hartsell. Head coach Danny Hartsell said that was a determining factor is his team’s loss. “That’s something you never want to see, especially for our seniors. In that first inning, it was just a triple effect as we knew Hailee wasn’t healthy and she’s not been healthy this whole tournament pitching. She has some kind of problem in her muscle so everyone in here knew she wasn’t healthy. Hats off to Grainger as they were the better team today, that’s all you can say.”

Grainger went right to work in the first as they scored seven runs, thanks in large part to four errors committed by Cocke County. The home team answered with two runs in the bottom of the first as Kirsten Moore connected on a two-run double to bring Adisen McNealy and Paige Niethammer around to score. The Lady Grizzlies responded with four more runs in the top of the second with two of those coming from Kledizk who smacked a double that produced a pair of runs. The offensive production continued in the third with five more Grainger runs. The Lady Red had one more run produced as Shakyra Reed doubled and later scored on a Niethammer single but Cocke County could get no closer in the 16-3 setback.

As the final score might indicate, there were several Grainger players who posted impressive numbers in the victory. Leadoff batter Suzanne Barker went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, McKenna Kee was 3-for-4 with a run batted in and both Copley and Jaylee Hayes were 2-for-4. Copley, Cierstin Phifer, Alison Byrd, Catelin Newman and Kledizk all notched an RBI. Copley was efficient in the circle as she gave up only one earned run in five innings of work.

Despite the disappointment of Wednesday’s final tally, the Lady Red still had an outstanding season as they went undefeated in regular season play to dethrone traditional power Greeneville as district champs, and set a new school record for wins. “This was the first time in our history we have ever gone 8-0 in the conference and we got 21 wins this season and that’s never been done in Cocke Count softball history so there are a lot of positives,” Hartsell said. “You always hate for it to come to an end and finish like this, especially with a bunch of errors.”

The Cocke County boss had high praise for one of his seniors who will go down as an elite player in multiple sports. “I’ve told every news media that Paige is the best three-sport athlete that has ever come through this town with volleyball, basketball and softball. I hate she had to end it this way.”

Grainger will attempt to down Greeneville twice on Thursday to win the tournament title but even if they don’t, they are assured to play on as Wednesday’s win guaranteed a trip to the regionals. Williford said he loves where his team is right now. “For my first year as head coach, that’s pretty exciting. Our goal was to win the district and that is still feasible so let’s try to get that done and then we will worry about the region after that. I’m just super happy for our seniors.”