Start up the bus…Unaka Lady Rangers rally past Tellico Plains in thriller, 10-8
Published 7:37 am Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde #4 Kailey Wilson led the pitching charge for Unaka in the Sectional game vs Tellico.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Unaka short stop Madison Pierce goes for a tag out at 2nd on a steal by #12 of Tellico.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde Unaka's #2 Madison Pierce high fives her coach rounding 3rd after an Erika Potter home run hit.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde Unaka's Erika Potter comes home after smacking a deep ball to center field for a home run, driving in two scores. This would get things going for Unaka with a 3-1 score in the 1st inning.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde Unaka Lady Ranger gets ahold of one against Tellico.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde Unaka's Beth Lowe tags up after a pop fly by Tellico and comes home safe for the score.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde As usual, Unaka's Erika Potter had a big day at bat vs Tellico.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde Unaka's Taylor Shanks snags an infield pop fly for the 2nd out of the 5th inning.
Unaka built a big lead in its sectional contest on Friday evening against Tellico Plains but had to rally in the sixth to take back the lead. The Lady Rangers scored two runs in the last of the sixth to pull out a 10-8 win over the Lady Bears and advance to the state tournament.
Ranger’s senior third baseman Erica Potter followed singles from Madison Pierce and Sadie Shoun with a home run to dead centerfield to stake the Rangers (24-15) to a 3-0 first inning lead.
“That was a big boost for us,” Unaka head coach Kenneth Chambers said. “We know Tellico has a good team with good hitters and it was a matter of time before they found their hitting stroke. “We made a couple of errors to help them out, but I thought Kaylee Wilson did a good job keeping us in it and Sadie came in, in a tough situation.”
Unaka added a run in the second on a pair of Tellico Plains infield errors for a 4-0 lead as freshman pitcher Kaylee Wilson was cruising, having given up just two hits.
The Lady Bears (16-14) got to Wilson in the third with Haley McGowen hitting the first of her two home runs in the game. McGowen finished 4-for-5 with three runs batted in for the Bears.
Unaka scored two more runs in the third for an 8-1 advantage with Lilly Kiser’s triple plating Shoun who had walked. A sacrifice fly from Noelle Collins brought Kiser’s courtesy runner home.
McGowen homered again in the fifth and in the sixth the Bears did indeed find their hitting stroke plating six runs on seven hits to knock Wilson out of the circle in favor of Shoun. In the big inning, Tellico Plains got RBI hits from McGowen, catcher Ireland Whitmire, and Kelsie Jones had a two-RBI hit.
With just one out and the score standing at 8-6, Chambers called upon Shoun to put the fire out but Jones greeted her with a two-run single to tie the game. Shoun was then able to retire Rhylea McJunkin and Whitmire to end the inning.
“With the bases loaded I knew I had to settle down and get the job done,” Shoun said. “We really wanted to accomplish this goal as a family and in the last inning I knew no one was on so I settled down and we got our goal.”
In the pivotal last of the sixth Pierce walked and Shoun singled to open the inning. The Bears intentionally walked Potter to load the bases and Kiser worked Watson for a walk that pushed the lead run across.
Collins then tapped into a 5-2 force out of Shoun at the plate leaving Rangers on first and second. With two out Taylor Shanks dropped a bunt that Whitmire fielded but her throw to first was late, and Potter just kept running from second base and she beat the relay throw to the plate.
“Coach didn’t call it or send me, I just kept running,” Potter said. “I was just trucking it.”
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Class A Softball Sectional
Unaka 10-8
Tellico Plains 001 016 0 – 8 15 4
Unaka 312 022 x – 10 8 1
W – Shoun L – Watson
