Boykin, Eliason lift West Florence to 3-1 win over South in Game 1 of AAAA softball lower state series

            Florence – The West Florence High School softball team has been here, but it doesn’t want to do that again.

           The Knights beat archrival South Florence 3-1 in the opening game of the AAAA lower state championship series on Thursday at Bruin Field. The two teams played for the lower state title last year as well, and West won the first game. However, South won the next two to win the best-of-3 series and advance to the state championship series.

           “The first win is great, but we can’t dwell on this,” said West Florence head coach Aundres Perkins, whose team improved to 19-4 on the season. “We’re where we last year, and we gave away two. I hope the girls will come ready to work tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have a better approach and try to get over this mental hump.

           “We had the same opportunity last year and we let it get away. ’m glad we got off to the 1-0 start, but can we finish the deal, how mentally tough and focused can we be?”

           Game 2 is on Friday at 6 p.m. at the West field. After winning the opener last year 2-1, the Knights lost the second game 3-1 and the deciding game 8-7.

           “It is very exciting,” said West catcher Mia Boykin of getting a chance to close out lower state on its home field. “We’re coming back for it this year after losing last year.”

           If a third game is needed, it too will be played at West Florence on Saturday at a time to be determined.

           Boykin and pitcher Annie Ruth Eliason were the stars of the game for the Knights. Boykin smacked a 2-run home run in the fourth, while Eliason struck out 14 batters and allowed just two hits and did not walk a batter.

           Eliason gave up a 1-out double to Paige White in the bottom of the first inning. She then set down 17 straight batters through the end of the sixth. Twelve of those came via strikeout, including seven in a row at one point.

“I’ve been on this whole season,” said Eliason, who has an earned run average under 1.00 for the season and over 250 strikeouts. “I just had to make sure to keep doing what I was doing. “

South Florence pitcher Payton Perry matched Eliason through the first three innings. In fact, Perry didn’t give up her first hit until the fourth. She gave up a leadoff single to Taryn Weatherford and that brought Boykin to the plate. She put a charge into one, and the only doubt was whether it had enough height to get over the left field fence. It cleared and the Knights had a 2-0 lead.

“I really didn’t think I was going to get anything to hit,” said Boykin, who now has seven homers on the season. “I got one though and I was able to go yard.”

“That was huge,” Perkins said of Boykin’s homer. “The momentum really swung our way.”

Perry had a strong performance. She allowed just four hits and two earned runs while striking out six and walking four.

“One bad pitch, that’s it,” South head coach Bobby Jones said of Perry’s performance. “You take that away everything’s different.”

The Knights picked up what would be an important insurance run in the sixth,. Boykin drew a 1-out walk and Eliason followed with a sharp single to left field. When the ball got past Bruins left fielder Alaina Floyd, courtesy runner Kaylin Davis came all the way around to score and make it 3-0.

South Florence, which fell to 24-8-1, broke Eliason’s run of consecutive batters retired when White led off the seventh with a single, her second hit and the Bruins’ other only hit. South proceeded to make things interesting.

Reagan Rowsey followed with a hard-hit grounder that Weatherford, the West shortstop, dove for and snagged. She was unable to get the force at second, and the runner went to third when the throw got away. Perry went down on a third strike bunt for the first out. Ryleigh Hux hit a 1-hopper back up the middle that Eliason snagged. She threw to first for the second out, but the run came home to make it 3-1.

Eliason, who had two of West's four hits as well, got Floyd to pop up on the infield for the final out.

           “We kind of fumbled along in the last inning there, but we found a way to press through,” Perkins said. “We practice these situations, we’ve been here before, and we handled it with class and grace. I’m proud of my girls. We played good defense.”

           “We just didn’t put the ball in play enough, that was the big thing,” Jones said. “If we had put it in play a little more different things could have happened.”

               Jones said his team will be ready to do battle on Friday at West.

               “Tomorrow’s another day, we get to live to play another day,” was Jones’ response when asked what he talked to his girls about following the game. “Last year they won the first game too. They can count us out all they want, but we’re going to go over there ready to play tomorrow.”

               Perkins has no doubt about that.

               “Coach Jones does a great job,” Perkins said. “We’re the little brother trying to catch up to his level.

    "I was just trying to encourage them for us to win the mental aspect of it. I want them to be ready. Hopefully it won’t come back and bite us in the butt again.”