Leroy players celebrate after the Bears’ 4-3 win over Hackleburg Wednesday in the Class 1A elimination round in Oxford. Leroy advanced to the state championship round. (Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Barnes)
Leroy’s Brookelyn Keith (15) exults after her game-winning RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh inning against Hackleburg Wednesday in Oxford. (Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Barnes)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
OXFORD, Ala. — Pressed to the wall once again, Leroy calmly wriggled out of calamity Wednesday and made the cherished ride from the outside fields of Choccolocco Park to the Signature Stadium to play for a state softball championship.
After seeing a 3-0 lead evaporate, Brookelyn Keith’s two-out, opposite-field RBI triple that dropped fair by inches down the right-field line gave the Bears a 4-3 walk-off win over Hackleburg and sent them to the Class 1A championship round.
No. 3-ranked Leroy (26-17) must beat No. 1 Skyline (32-12) twice Wednesday night to claim the Bears’ first Blue Map. Leroy lost to the Vikings 4-2 Tuesday to fall into the elimination round.
The Bears might not have made it that far if not for escaping three bases-loaded predicaments in a 4-1 win over Spring Garden. They also left the bases loaded themselves in the first inning on Wednesday.
“We don’t want to go home second,” said Mariah Barnes, who came home on Keith’s game-winning triple.
Keith said this is a different Leroy team than the one which lost to Brantley 13-0 and 6-2 when the Bears reached the championship round for the first time last year.
“Last year, Brantley beat us bad earlier and I think we had it in the back of our minds,” Keith said. “We remembered and it got to us. Skyline beat us yesterday but I feel like we’re ready. We’re not scared or nervous. I don’t sense any nerves. I think if we beat them once, we’ll beat them twice.”
On Wednesday, Leroy led the Panthers 3-1 after three innings before Hackleburg scored twice in the sixth to tie it.
In the seventh, the Panthers threatened to take the lead when they got two runners on with one out against Leroy ace K.K. Guy. But catcher Gracie Mitchell caught Payten Herron’s pop foul while mashed against the backstop net for the second out and Ellie Nichols popped out to Liz Baugh at second base.
After breathing a sigh of relief, the Bears immediately went for the jugular with the top of their order in the bottom of the seventh.
Leadoff batter Barnes hit a line-drive single to center field off Panthers reliever Braylynn Pope and stole second. After Mitchell lined out to center field for the second out, Keith slashed a pitch to right field, where it tumbled into fair territory inches away from the outstretched glove of diving outfielder Maddie Burt, who went prone on her stomach to try and send the game to extra innings.
Barnes easily scored from second and Leroy’s players leaped from the dugout in celebration.
“I didn’t want to hit it on the ground,” Keith said. “I just wanted to try and get it to the outfield. It wasn’t the prettiest thing but it got it done.”
Bears coach Tabitha Baggett, who has taken Leroy to the state tournament eight times, said she had a good feeling even after Hackleburg tied it.
“Two innings before, I said we’re going to get the top of the lineup (in the seventh),” she said. “We’re going to win the game. They believed in it. There’s no quit in them.”
Leroy took a 2-0 lead in the first on Hannah Howard’s RBI double and a Hackleburg error, then made it 3-0 in the second when Ellie Reed bunted, reached second on a throwing error and scored when Mitchell grounded out to first base.
Guy (17-7), who has thrown 292 pitches in three games, got the win, allowing three runs off 11 hits in a complete game.
With a state championship in the balance, she wants the ball against Skyline.
“I feel good,” she said. “We really battled through some adversity. I’m going to go as long as I have to. (Hackleburg) was hitting the first pitch a lot, which was good for me.”
In the finals, Baggett said she was going to weigh pitching Guy or No. 2 starter McKenzie Smith (8-6), who has thrown 100 pitches and allowed six hits in the loss to the Vikings Tuesday.
“I don’t know what K.K.’s got left in the tank,” Baggett said. “We’ve got to talk about it. McKenzie threw really well against Skyline, so we may do that. I think we’ve got a good shot. I don’t think they’re nervous at all.”
Keith and Howard each had two hits and an RBI against the Panthers.
