The Upperman Lady Bees fell just short of a region championship as they were defeated 12-11 by the Sequatchie County Lady Indians on Wednesday night in Baxter.
UHS had two comeback attempts, but were ultimately unable to overcome several errors and mistakes in the Region 4/AA tournament championship game.
“I felt like we left a lot of defensive outs out there,” said UHS head coach Dustin Williams. “We weren’t able to make routine plays. Hats off to Sequatchie County, they hit the ball really hard too. It’s our job to make plays and we didn’t make enough routine plays tonight.”
The Lady Indians struck first, capitalizing on two UHS errors that extended the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.
SCHS then extended the lead to 8-0 in the top half of the fourth before the Upperman bats came to life. 12 Lady Bees batted in the bottom half of the inning, with five tallying an RBI as the they cut the deficit to 8-7.
The Lady Indians immediately responded bringing another run across in the top half of the fifth before another UHS error extended the inning allowing SCHS to bring three more across and take a 12-7 lead.
Upperman battled back in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reagan Hurst hit a three-RBI double to cut it to 12-10, she then later scored after an errant throw to first to make it a one-run game. The Lady Indians then forced a groundout with the bases loaded to end the game and secure the region championship.
“The positive side is, we fought back against a really good Sequatchie team tonight,” said Williams. “Got the bases loaded with a chance.”
Leah McElhaney threw five innings for Upperman, allowing 12 runs, nine earned, on 13 hits with one strikeout and no walks. Hurst pitched two innings allowing no runs on one hit and three strikeouts.
Hurst went 3-4 with four RBIs. Morgan Green went 1-2 at the plate with three RBIs. Mel Pride, Abigail Johnson and Jayla Cobb each added an RBI.
The Lady Bees will travel to Red Bank (22-8) for the sectional round of the postseason. Red Bank defeated Meigs County 4-2 in the Region 3/AA championship game. The winner of the matchup will advance to the state tournament.
Photos by Noah McKay:
