A year ago the Tigerettes sent Sequatchie County home for the season, beating them in the regionals. One year later the Indians returned the favor, ending DeKalb’s season with stinging 4-3 defeat with the winning run coming the bottom of the seventh.
It appeared the Tigerettes may be able to hold on as the maintained a 3-2 lead going into the seventh. They had trailed their hosts 2-0 until they broke through in the fourth inning with a pair of runs to tie the contest, although they would leave a couple of runners on base that inning. DeKalb took the lead in the fifth and shut down Sequatchie in the next two innings, meaning all they had to do was close out the seventh. That didn’t happen. The Indians were able to quickly tie the game and then broke through with the winning run, getting their revenge for last year’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Tigerettes. The loss ends the Tigerette season just short of making substate.
The late loss to Sequatchie was reminiscent of the Tigerettes appearance in the District finals against Livingston last week.
After clawing their way from the loser's bracket to an appearance in the district championship, the Tigerettes couldn't hold on to the lead Friday afternoon in Watertown, falling to Livingston Academy 7-5.
The Livingston loss came after the Tigerettes took an early lead when Joni Robinson worked her way around the bases and scored from a slow bouncer in the top of the third. Meanwhile, pitcher Kenzie France pitched an efficient game, holding the top-seeded Livingston squad scoreless for the first four innings. The Tigerette lead could have been bigger going down the stretch as they had the bases loaded in the second inning but were unable to plate a run. Leaving the bases juiced would come back to haunt DeKalb once Livingston found its bats in the latter innings. The sixth proved to be the breaker as Livingston was able to plate five runs. The two runs by the Tigerettes in the seventh were not enough to offset the damage of the inning before.
The loss in the title game comes after the Tigerettes had beaten Upperman and Macon County back-to-back to work their way into the championship of the double elimination tournament. Livingston proved to be their kryptonite; however, beating DeKalb 8-0 to put them in the loser's bracket and then with the 7-5 comeback win. The Tigerettes outscored their other opponents 27-1 during the district tourney.
Their early setback in the tournament came with an 8-0 shellacking by Livingston in the second game of the tourney which is being held in Watertown. The Tigerettes won their opening game 2-0 over Cannon County but were plunged head-long into the loser’s bracket with the Livingston loss.
They began their rehabilitation with a win over their hosts, Watertown by a count of 9-6. The win put them in a precarious position of having to win two games Wednesday or have their season ended for the first time in many years without making regionals.
The Tigerettes took care of business in a big way in the first of the double header as they steamrolled Upperman 11-1 thanks to a softball clinic put on by Emme Colwell when drove in over half of DeKalb’s runs, registering six RBIs as she went three-for-four from the dish. Her batting numbers included three doubles. Maddison Parsley and Joni Robinson showed senior power as they both went two-for-three with Robinson swiping two bases on the day. Meanwhile Kenzie France held Upperman to just four hits as the super sophomore was ice from the circle, fanning four and giving no walks. Upperman assisted the Tigerettes as they made three fielding errors while giving up 10 hits to DeKalb.
While sending Upperman on an early summer vacation was likely good for the Tigerette psyche, it meant nothing if they couldn’t depose the highly rated Macon County squad.
However, what promised to be a cliffhanger ended up being a one-sided walk over as the Tigerettes stole Macon County’s lunch money, 14-0, the game stopped after five innings.
It was over early as the Tigerettes scored six in the first and four in the second. Kenzie France had the magic stick as she went three-for-four and knocked in four runs. Megan Walker also went three-for-four as did Joni Robinson. Emme Colwell knocked in three runners while working a shutout from the circle as she fell just short of a no-hitter, surrendering just one hit.
Along with moving on to the regionals, several Tigerettes were named to the all-district teams following the championship game. Making all-district were Kenzie France, Emme Colwell, Jacey Hatfield and Megan Walker. Named all-tournament were Joni Robinson, Kennedy Polk (all-freshman), Kenzie France, Emme Colwell, Megan Walker and Jacey Hatfield.
