AHSAA 1A STATE SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS: Addison still in the running after 14-8 victory over Belgreen

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MONTGOMERY – It was a long day Wednesday for the Addison Lady Bulldogs. After defeating Waterloo 10-6, they faced off against Sumiton Christian, coming up short, 7-3. But a hearty nighttime win against Belgreen, 14-8, kept Addison’s season alive. The team will face off against Sweet Water High School at 10:45 Thursday morning in a must-win game in their quest for the Class 1A crown.

Addison started out its loser's bracket game against Belgreen on the right foot as, for the third straight game, they put up two or more runs in the opening inning.

Destiny Walker reached on a bunt single to lead off the game for Addison, then she stole second, then third. Gaither drew a walk; Macey Butler hit an RBI single and Anna Luker hit a sacrifice fly to give Addison an early 2-0 advantage. After Butler got picked off at first, Abbie Chambless kept the inning alive with a triple down the left-field line before Madison Aderholt hit an RBI single to left field to increase Addison’s lead to 3-0. 

Belgreen, though, answered back in its half. Luker struggled with her control early on, walking one with one out, and two more with two outs to load the bases for Camie Terrell, who lined a two-run single to right field to make it a 3-2 game early. 

Addison added to its lead in the second inning. Laken Tyree hit a one-out single to left field, then Walker hit one of her own and Brieanna Ory, the courtesy runner for Tyree, got thrown out at second on Walker's single. Cecilee Gaither lined an RBI single to left field; Butler hit a double to left field to put runners on third and second, respectively, still with two outs. A two-run double by Luker pushed Addison’s lead to four at 6-2.

The lead got bigger for Addison in the top of the fourth. Tyree led off the inning with a single to center field, then a sacrifice bunt by Walker moved Ory over to second; Gaither then hit an RBI single to center field to make it 7-2. She got thrown out at second on a Butler in-field single. Luker hit one of her own and Chambless got hit by the pitch to load the bases for Aderholt, who hit a two-run single to widen the Addison Lady Bulldog lead to 9-2. 

Belgreen countered with a big inning in its half as three straight singles with two outs plated three runs to make it a 9-5 game and the Belgreen Lady Bulldogs cut into the Addison lead in the bottom of the fifth as they loaded the bases with one out for Emmie Scott, who reached on an error by second baseman Lexie Cunningham, allowing a run to come across to score on the play; Anna Dempsey then hit a two-run single to make it a one-run game at 9-8.

But Addison made sure Belgreen didn't get any closer, moving back into the run column in the sixth. Gaither and Butler hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, then Luker hit an RBI single to right field; Chambless added a sacrifice fly after that to make it 11-8. Three more runs were added in the seventh inning on a Gaither RBI single and an Aderholt two-run single. Luker worked around a two-out walk to finish the game off, keeping the season alive for the Addison Lady Bulldogs. 

All but one Addison starter collected at least one hit in the game and five of the starters finished with three hits or more. The first six hitters in the lineup wore out Belgreen's pitching staff. Walker finished with three hits and three runs scored. Gaither (three runs scored, three RBIs) and Butler (four runs scored and an RBI) each went 4-for-4 in the game. Luker finished with four hits, four RBIs and two runs scored. Chambless added a pair of hits, a run scored and an RBI. Aderholt collected three hits and five RBIs. Cunningham added a hit, Tyree chipped in with a pair of hits and Ory scored a run. Addison finished with 23 hits.

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