After action this week and last a pair of Tipton County teams have an excellent chance of playing in next week’s state tournaments.
The Brighton baseball team defeated Munford 5-4 on Sunday to claim the region championship and move a step closer to advancing to the state tournament for the second time in three seasons under head coach Ryan Wood.
Luke Perkins came up with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh on Sunday to lead Brighton past Munford.
The Cardinals now just need to win a best-of-three sectional series against Fayette-Ware to advance to the state tournament in Murfreesboro. A doubleheader begins today (Wednesday) at 4:30 p.m. at Brighton. If the series is tied game threee would be played Friday at Brighton.
Bennett Stutts, who struck out seven with no walks and four hits allowed over seven innings, drove in two runs. Ben Lavelle and Perkins each had two hits.
“I’m very proud of our guys winning the first region championship in school history,” Wood said. “They had to battle weather, then moving locations back to our field then two tough pitchers in Dyer County’s Tarkington and Munford’s Lowry. Geiger hits two bombs in the same game and we find a way to fight back to win the region championship in the bottom of the seventh on a Luke Perkins hit. It was an awesome moment in program history.”
As Wood mentioned, Geiger hit two homers for Munford. Noah Lowery and Harrison Pollina also had a pair of hits for Munford, whose season ended later Sunday in a 9-2 loss to Dyer County.
“We still have some things to work on and still have to play a complete game to reach our goals for the year,” Wood said. “We have to play great baseball and win two out of three against Fayette Ware to get to state … Our guys have battled all year and have to keep doing it to have a chance to get to state.”
The Munford softball team beat Dyersburg 5-3 on Monday in the region semifinals. That wins puts the Lady Cougars in a sectional game on Friday against Millington or Fayette-Ware. The winner of that one moves on to the Class 3A state tournament. If Munford wins in the sectionals it would be the program’s first state tournament appearance since 2014.
Lexi Billings struck out nine and allowed just five hits over seven innings to pick up the win. She also doubled and drove in a run. Mia Kate Griffin had a pair of hits for the Lady Cougars and Jordan Wilson tripled. Vivian Millican and NataLee Faulkner each doubled for Munford.
