Woodland headed back to state, RCHS one win away
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Woodland’s Railey Williams pitched 16 straight scoreless innings over the course of three games and celebrated accordingly after the final out in the team’s win over Fayetteville Wednesday in Montgomery.
It’s a safe bet that Woodland pitcher Railey Williams will have a long, restful slumber tonight, and it will most likely begin on the bus ride home.
And she can do it knowing that her team team’s next game will be in the state tournament after the Lady Cats knocked off Fayetteville 5-0 in the regional finale.
Williams pitched 20 of 21 innings over the course of three games Wednesday and was the winning pitcher in all three as the Lady Bobcats swept their way through the losers bracket of the Class 1A Central Regional to claim the Second Qualifier spot from Montgomery.
Woodland won its first two games 11-2 against University Charter and 9-0 against Billingsley to set up a winner-take-all final game against familiar foe Fayetteville. Woodland and Fayetteville split their two regular season matchups before Woodland beat the Lady Wolves twice in the area tournament last week in Woodland.
In Wednesday’s fifth meeting it was clear throughout that Williams wasn’t going to let Fayetteville take the Bobcats’ spot in Oxford. She pitched a complete-game shutout, scattering six hits and a walk and striking out four.
Woodland got the only run it would need in the first inning after Alyssa Taylor and Allie Puckett started the game with back to back singles and Emma Elsberry scored Taylor with an RBI groundout.
Williams took it from there as she completed a run of 16 straight scoreless innings over the course of the three games. In all she pitched 20 innings, allowed 14 hits, struck out 21 and walked just two hitters.
Woodland got production throughout the lineup over the course of the day. In game one it was Lily Kirby going 4-for-4 and driving in a run. In game two Kinsley McDaniel went 3-for-4 and drove home three runs. And Alyssa Taylor was a constant at the top of the lineup as she went 7-for-12 on the day, drove in five runs and scored four.
Macie McDaniel also had a strong day out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup as she went 5-for-10 and drove in three runs.
Woodland is in the state tournament for the second straight season. Last year they won two games and made it to the final four before losing to Spring Garden on the second day of the tournament. The Class 1A state tournament begins Tuesday, May 19 at 9 a.m. at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. Woodland’s first game will be against Hackleburg, which was the No. 1 qualifier from the North Regional in Florence.
RCHS
One year after making the state tournament for the first time in school history the RCHS Lady Tigers are on the doorstep of going back.
RCHS won its first two games of the Class 3A East Regional in Albertville and now sit one win away from making it back to state.
The Lady Tigers overcame a little bit of a sluggish start to knock off Locust Fork in their tournament opener, then held off a late rally from Ohatchee to remain in the winner’s bracket heading into play Thursday.
They will need just one more win, either in the winner’s bracket championship game tomorrow or in the tournament finale later in the day.
RCHS scored a total of 23 runs in the two games as they beat Locust Fork 11-1 in five innings and took a 12-8 win over Ohatchee.
Hannah Parmer was a huge part of that offense in both games as she went 6-for-8 with a pair of inside-the-park home runs and drove in 11 runs in the two games. Her grand slam in the fourth inning of the first game against Locust Fork broke things open and put RCHS up 9-1.
Her three-run homer in the bottom of the first against Ohatchee allowed RCHS to erase an early 2-0 deficit and put them ahead to stay.
Abi Waters was instrumental as well, both in the circle and at the plate. Waters pitched a complete-game in the opener and allowed one run on six hits and struck out four. She threw the final 2.2 innings against Ohatchee and allowed one earned run on four hits. She did not walk a batter all day.
She also went 4-for-7 in the two games with a double and an RBI.
RCHS will play Hanceville at 10:45 a.m. with the winner earning the Qualifier 1 title from the regional. If the Lady Tigers lose that game they will play the tournament finale for the Qualifier 2 spot at 3:15.
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