Gallery by Tina Laney
Following a strong regular season performance, the only question needing answered for the young Shady Spring softball team was, how would it handle the postseason?
On the opening night of Class AA Region 3, Section 2 play, the No. 1-seeded Tigers (14-5) did not miss a beat, or many balls for that matter.
Riding an 18-hit attack, Shady Spring advanced to Tuesday night’s showdown with county rival Independence thanks to a 12-2 win over Liberty in five innings.
“Not with these girls,” Shady Spring head coach Nikki Mays said when asked if she had any postseason concerns. “They are headstrong, and they know what they are looking for. I have all the confidence in the world in them. Sometimes you don’t know who is going to be on, but here lately they have all been on it. Every game they are putting in work and we need everybody right now.”
Raegan Lane retired Liberty in order, including two strikeouts, before the Tigers went to work in the bottom of the opening frame.
WVU Tech signee Kaylee Waddell opened the at-bat with a solid single to right.
After moving to second on a wild pitch, Waddell then scored on a double from Jenna Joyce that hit the center field fence in the air.
A ground ball from Avary Bragg moved Joyce up one base where an aggressive turn drew a throw back to third. When the ball could not be handled, Joyce scored for a 2-0.
Before Liberty (13-9) could get the third out of the inning, an RBI-single from Lacy Osborne scored Annabelle Sturgill for a 3-0 lead.
For three straight innings, Shady starter Raegan Lane baffled the Raiders at the dish which included eight strikeouts.
Liberty finally found some life in the fourth when Maddie Cox opened with a sharp single and scored on a double from Katie Mullens.
After Mullens avoided an out in a rundown advancing to third, she then scored on a ground ball error from the Tigers to cut the lead to 3-2.
However, that was the last run scored by the Raiders and the only two hits surrendered by Lane over her five innings of work which included 10 strikeouts.
“Raegan is more of a starter than a finisher, so we wanted to bring her in and get her ready,” Mays said about the decision to start the junior hurler. “We are still not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but we wanted to start her and see how she was feeling. We left her in because she was rolling. Raegan has good off-speed pitches, and she is fast. She has left her mark on the mound this year.”
Shady answered quickly with some two-out magic and a parade of doubles in the home portion of the inning.
Lane started the rally with a double and scored on a double from Waddell. Jayla Joyce doubled home Waddell before younger sister Jenna Joyce smacked an RBI single for a 5-2 lead.
Jenna Joyce made it 6-3 when she took second on the throw home, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on single from Avary Bragg.
The future Golden Bear ended the night with three hits, two RBI and three runs scored, all out of the lead-off spot.
“Kaylee has been a great lead-off and a great leader in the field, as well as in the lineup,” Mays says. “She definitely gets us started.”
Adding more fuel to the Shady fire Monday was Jayla Joyce in the two-hole who is seeing her first real action on the diamond as a senior. Joyce had three hits and knocked in three runs in the win.
“Jayla played last year and came in to run some for us. This year she has worked hard in the off season and has really come along,” Mays said. “She has put in a lot of work. Jenna working as a pitcher against her really helps a lot.”
Shady Spring closed out the win with six runs in the fifth inning, collecting six hits in the frame.
All nine Tigers that batted had at least one hit in the game. Jenna Joyce, Brooklynn Blankenship, Sturgill, Osborne and Bragg all had two hits each.
“Our bats weren’t there today. We just couldn’t hit the ball,” Liberty head coach Mary Green said. “If they did hit it, it was a foul ball or we had strikeouts.”
Independence advanced to meet Shady Spring by knocking off No. 3 Nicholas County 10-1 Monday. Both regular season meetings between the two rivals ended in victories for the Tigers.
“It’s going to come down to who wants it more tomorrow. It is hard to beat a team like that three times,” Mays said. “I have been preaching that to them ever since we beat them the second time. Don’t take anything for granted. We can have what has happened before in our back pocket, but not act on it. You never know what is coming in the postseason.”
Liberty will travel to Nicholas County Tuesday in an elimination game.
