Big innings pace Lady Admirals past rival HVA; 6-0 in district
HARDIN VALLEY — It was a bonanza of big innings for Farragut High School’s softball team Thursday, March 27, on the road at rival Hardin Valley Academy.
Three four-run innings, along with a five-run inning, resulted in a dominant 17-4 run-ruled District 4-4A win. FHS, which improved to 16-4-1 overall, 6-0 in district, was held scoreless only in the second inning.
Despite the output, FHS head coach Nick Green thought his squad left some runs on the field. “I thought we could have done better,” he said. “We had some at-bats where we came up empty. Had runners in scoring position where we had some unproductive at-bats.”
FHS’s four-run first included a bases-loaded double by Hallie Grace Johnson, which scored two. Alexa Shrader and Eleena Ralston then followed with RBI singles.
Five more runs in the third made it 9-0 and would put the game out of reach. The first two runs scored when Effy Armstrong’s grounder to third, with Ralston on first, was thrown to second for an attempted force out.
The ball got by the second baseman and rolled all the way to the wall, and both players scored. Farragut also got RBI doubles in the inning from Rylee Raby and Johnson.
The Lady Hawks cut it to 9-4 in their half of the third. Consecutive singles by Addison Chandler and Elsie Hatcher and a walk to Avery Snyder loaded the bases with no outs.
A walk to Emma Kate Schneider brought in Chandler. Ava Barnes replaced starter Taylor Wolfgram and got the first batter she faced, Alex Souders, to hit a grounder that should have become a double play. An error allowed pinch-runner Kami Taylor and Snyder to score.
Two outs later, Nathalia Rodriguez hit an RBI double.
Wolfgram threw two innings and gave up three hits and one earned run. She walked three and struck out two. “Wolfgram gave us some good innings,” Green said. “But sometimes when we did make good pitches, we didn’t play very good defense.
“Ava came in and gave us solid relief,” the FHS coach added about the senior.
Farragut’s four runs in the fourth made it 13-4. In the fifth came the final four Lady Ad runs.
A walk to Ralston, a double by Armstrong and, one out later, a single by Logan Jameson loaded the bases.
With two outs, Elsa Morrison took the plate.
The UT Lady Vols signee had a modest game to that point: intentionally walked twice and not getting a hit in her other two at-bats.
Her fifth plate appearance was vintage Morrison: a grand slam over the centerfield wall to make it 17-4. “It was high and offspeed,” she said about the grand slam pitch.
“This district’s tough,” HVA head coach Chris Snyder said. “It’s hard to compete.”
HVA loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth but couldn’t score.
