Upperman Shuts Out DeKalb County, Advances in 7/AAA Winners Bracket

by Rusty Ellis

The Upperman Lady Bees fought for both of their runs on Tuesday afternoon, but they proved to be just enough in a 2-0 win over DeKalb County in the District 7/AAA Tournament.

Starters Reece Kimmell and Bri Murphy took turns firing shutout innings to start the game, and it wasn’t until the fourth inning when one of them blinked.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Upperman’s Kloee Garrett laid down a bunt down the third-base line to get Abigail Johnson in from third for a 1-0 lead.

Kimmell continued blanking the Tigerettes offensively, and in the bottom of the sixth, Morgan Green gave her a much-appreciated insurance run with an RBI single to score Garrett for the 2-0 lead.

A 1-2-3 inning for Kimmell in the top of the seventh finished off the victory, as Upperman advanced in the winners bracket with their 2-0 win.

Kimmell earned the win with seven shutout innings and seven strikeouts, as head coach Dustin Williams knows his team took down a very capable DeKalb team that gave them fits in the regular season.

“It was a grind, Danielle Horton and her staff do a phenomenal job,” Williams said. “They’re always at the top of the district, and they know what it takes to win this time of year…I thought we did a good job of just grinding through this one today, and we made big-time plays and got big-time hits when we needed them.”

Two of those big-time hits came off the bats of Garrett and Green, as Williams says they just did whatever they could to get the runs in.

“I saw players who wanted to be successful and wanted to help their team,” Williams said. “Kloee’s grown so much on the field in the last three years, and she’s got some speed to her so she’s always got the green-light to drop a bunt down…Morgan was just a senior being a senior, there’s nobody better in that situation than a senior when you need a big-time run driven in.”

The schedule gets no easier, as they’ll take on Macon County at 6 P.M. with a spot in the district championship on the line, though playing in a tough district is nothing new for Williams.

“I’ve been in all different scenarios, last year we had to win three to climb out of the loser bracket to get to the championship,” Williams said. “With this district being so competitive, anybody that’s still playing ball right now can win this thing.”

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