CHESNEE, SC - The Chesnee softball team used a couple of big innings late to defeat region rival Landrum 6-3 on Thursday night to claim their second straight Region II-2A championship.
"We have worked incredibly hard since the end of last season," said Chesnee's Harley Grady. "For us to now be able to say we accomplished one of our goals is awesome." Chesnee head coach Tripp Fogle echoed the sentiments of Grady and said he was proud of his team's accomplishments. "I'm proud of this team," said Fogle. "We accomplished one of our goals and we still have things to do to get better as we keep trying to get better each day." Sydney Price led off the game for the Cardinals with a double before later scoring on a sacrifice fly from Abby Hammer to put the Cardinals up 1-0 over the Eagles. Chesnee's Maddie Handy then retired the next eight consecutive Cardinal's hitters, including four strikeouts, before a two out double by Sydney Price in her next at-bat. Price later scored on a close play at home that saw her just sneak under the tag of Chesnee's Hannah Henderson to put the Cardinals up 2-0 after three innings of play. Henderson led the Chesnee response in the bottom of the fourth inning as she was hit by a pitch before stealing second and later scoring on Skylar Barrett's RBI single to cut the Landrum lead in half with the score sitting at 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals. The Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as their seventh-place hitter Aubrey Aparis led off the inning with a single before later stealing second base and scoring on a Harley Grady RBI single. Grady used her heads-up base running to work her way to third base before late scoring on Katie Faith Watson's RBI single. "My speed gives me an advantage," said Aparis. "I'm just happy I was able to use that to benefit our team tonight." Landrum's Sydney Price ended the Eagles streak of seven straight Cardinals retired by Handy in the top of the sixth inning with a single, as she also advanced to second base on a Chesnee error before later tying the game at 3-3 on a Abby Hammer RBI double. Handy led off the bottom of the sixth inning for the Eagles with a single before scoring the go-ahead run on an Emily Pruett RBI double. Chesnee tacked on extra runs thanks again to the duo of Aparis and Grady as Aparis used her speed to plate a run with a RBI single. Grady drove in a run on a line drive to the outfield that was caught with an amazing diving catch by Landrum's Sydney Price but on the play Chesnee's Skylar Barrett made a heads up base running decision to tag up as Price was falling to the ground after the catch and scored giving Grady her second RBI of the game. "We saw how they were adjusting to us in the field and in the circle and were able to take advantage of the opportunities," said Grady. In the final two innings, the bottom third of the Eagle's order went four of five with four RBIs and two runs scored. "It doesn't matter who we run out there, everybody in that dugout has complete confidence in their teammates," said Fogle about the bottom third of his lineup. "I'm just proud of them for having good at bats and making things happen." "We have all worked hard for our opportunities," said Aparis. "We were able to take advantage of the opportunities we had when we had the chance." Handy struck out the first two batters she faced in the seventh inning for the Eagles and the final out was recorded thanks to a groundout to Emily Pruett and as she received the ball at first and recorded the out the Eagles players began to celebrate their region championship on the field. Handy finished the game with eleven strikeouts while only giving up five hits in a complete game victory as she had several streaks of multiple batters being retired in a row which she gave credit to her defense for that accomplishment. "I was throwing strikes and making my pitches I needed to make because of the confidence I had in the great defense," said Handy. "Behind me the defense was making the plays when we needed them." While the 2021 version of the Eagles had a lot of success, the 2022 version featured a bunch a new faces and familiar faces in new places as the Eagles returned only one player from last year's region championship team at the same position. "We have worked hard all year," said Fogle. "We are not perfect but we kind of like the fact that some people thought we were a little down from last year. Each team does some things better than the other, but I told the girls tonight I'd gladly play a game with them any day of the week. They have grit and they have fight and I have faith in those girls." The Eagles dominated region play with a perfect 8-0 record as they scored one hundred and sixteen runs for an average of fourteen and a half runs per game. They recorded five shutouts as a staff and only allowed eight runs with a thirteen and a half run average margin of victory. "I think it shows our focus has been where it has needed to be," said Handy. "Our grit and determination allowed us to have such a strong performance in region play this year." The playoffs are scheduled to start on Wednesday May 4th where the Eagles will host the fourth seed from Region I-2A but before the playoffs begin the Eagles will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Woodruff with a 6:00 PM scheduled first pitch. Comments are closed.
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