Shady Spring – Nikki Mays’ first season back at the helm in Shady Spring has had its peaks and valleys.
Her team’s second season has started off on high note though.
Behind an efficient pitching performance from freshman hurler Avary Bragg, the Tigers opened the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 tournament with a 7-2 win over Nicholas County Thursday in Shady.
Bragg, who’s dealt with her share of frustration, was stellar in the circle, pitching the first five innings and allowing just one hit over that span.
“She’s been working hard and extra on a lot of things that weren’t working at the beginning of the season,” Mays said. “Her curveball was on really well tonight. She has her confidence after working well with her (pitching) coach and getting things lined out. She came to play today.”
Bragg’s lone blemishes in the circle came in the top of the third inning when she allowed a leadoff single and a two-out walk but notched a strikeout to diffuse the only threat she faced.
Meanwhile Shady’s offense feasted and rode the momentum each time there was a spark.
The first one came in the bottom of the second when Bragg stroked a leadoff single, advancing to third on a pair of singles from Brooklynn Blankenship and Kendra Pizzino.
Bella Sturgill crushed a double that scored Bragg and Blankenship and Lacy Osborne followed with a sac fly that made it a 3-0 game. Kenidi Creager drove in the final run of the frame with a two-out single, staking the hosts to a 4-0 advantage.
When the dust settled the Tigers had sent nine to the plate with six different players collecting hits in the frame.
“They definitely feed off of each other with anything that they do,” Mays said. “We tell them all the time, ‘You start it and we’ll go with it,’ so they were stringing them together and I was proud of them tonight.”
It was more of the same in the fifth inning when Shady scored its final three runs. Sturgill picked up another pair of RBIs with a single, pushing her total to four for the game and Pizzino added a sacrifice fly to help extend the advantage to 7-0.
“They hit us a little bit and we come up with an error here or there,” Nicholas County head coach Marie Shaffer said. “I don’t know. It’s just kind of like a domino effect sometimes on us. We’re a better team than what we’re showing because we’ve had some real good games. It was 7-5 the first time we played them but I think it’s a mental thing for us.
The Grizzlies meanwhile never found a rhythm until the top of the seventh.
They strung together a trio of hits to open the frame after Bragg was pulled but a tag at the plate and a  strikeout form Raegan Lane slammed the door on the comeback bid.
“We’ve struggled with hitting all year, I’ll be honest with you,” Shaffer said. Â “We’ve worked on it but I don’t know. I think it’s just in our heads. We’ve hit this season and left people on base every game. We’re just struggling to score runs and it’s a mental thing I’m afraid because we work on it a lot.”
Nicholas County falls into the losers bracket where it will host Liberty in an elimination game on Friday. Shady advances to the winners bracket and will travel to Independence Friday with a spot in the sectional title game on the line.
“We played them at a down time for us as a group,” Mays said of the matchup with Indy. “We’re peaking at the right time and coming back together at the right time so we’re a different team than what they saw the last time. If they can take the momentum from today into tomorrow I think they’ll be alright.”
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