Brighton third baseman Andrew Davis makes a play to first base during Spring Fling action in Murfreesboro. Photo by Jeff Ireland
Five Tipton County-area softball and baseball teams started play Wednesday with hopes of a state title still alive.
When the day was over, just one, Tipton-Rosemark Academy softball, was still playing in Murfreesboro.
Covington, which won its opener Tuesday to get into the winners’ bracket, had its chances Wednesday afternoon at Blackman High School against Gibbs before the game got away from the Chargers in a 13-2 loss.
The Chargers trailed just 3-2 through five innings before Carson Raby hit a grand slam in the top of the sixth to blow the game open. Landon Myers and Carson Ruffin each had doubles in the game for Covington and Paxton Messer drove in a run.
Holden Warmath struck out six and allowed 10 hits through 5.1 innings to take the loss.
That setback put Covington into a do-or-die game Wednesday night against Greenbrier, the team they beat in the tournament opener. Covington led 8-7 heading into the top of the seventh, but Greenbrier scored four times in the frame to take an 11-9 win.
Myers doubled, singled and drove in one and Christopher Godwin doubled in a run for Covington, but it wasn’t enough.
Covington softball played one of the wildest games of the tournament Wednesday morning vs. Greenbrier.
A day after getting just one hit in a loss to Forrest, Covington had 20 in game two and led 13-8 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Greenbrier rallied for five runs in the inning, however, and plated one more in the bottom of the eighth to send Covington home with a 14-13 win.
Hannah Kirby and Kayla Pitts each had four hits for Covington and Lauren Vickery was 2 for 5 with four RBIs. Ana Gover was 3 for 6 with three RBIs and Kalynn Howard had three hits and an RBI. Charleigh Cole, who pitched three innings in relief, had two hits. Vickery pitched the first four innings and relieved Cole in the eighth.
Over at Siegel High School, Brighton baseball faced elimination Wednesday morning vs. Beech. Kaleb Baskin came up with a stellar performance on the mound, working around nine hits and striking out five in a complete-game effort to lead the Cardinals to a 6-3 win.
Brighton trailed 3-1 through five innings before rallying for two runs in the top of the sixth and three more in the seventh to keep the season alive. Logan Rushing doubled twice and drove in three and Baskin added an RBI-double. Ben Lavelle also had an RBI.
Game three against Siegel went the wrong way early. Siegel scored six times in the bottom of the second and ended Brighton’s season with an 11-3 win.
Rushing stayed hot at the plate with two more doubles and Luke Perkins doubled in a run. Bennett Stutts also had an RBI.
Tipton-Rosemark baseball was matched up with a familiar foe in its DII-A elimination game in Northpoint Christian, which TRA beat last week in the region title game.
This one was a pitchers’ duel through four before Northpoint scored eight in the top of the fifth and win 11-1 in five innings.
Evan Staples held TRA to four hits. Noah Roland had two singles and Ethan Stewart and Eli Ramsey each had one.
As for TRA softball, it used a complete-game five-hitter from Charli Rice today to eliminate Silverdale 7-0 and move two wins away from the program’s third state title. TRA must beat Columbia Academy today at 4 p.m. to force a winner-take-all title game tomorrow at 10 a.m.
The Lady Rebels pulled away from Silverdale with five runs in the top of the fifth. Ali Naumann, Brooklyn Rose and Ryleigh Bowers each had two hits for TRA
