Saluda misses on chance to win Region 2-AA softball title by falling to Mid-Carolina 7-4

 Prosperity – The Saluda High School softball team had a chance to wrap up the Region 2-AA title on Friday. Defending upper state champion Mid-Carolina made sure that didn’t happen, coming away with a 7-4 victory at the school’s home field at Mid-Carolina Middle School.

 That more than likely forced a 3-way tie for first between those two and Ninety Six. SHS is done with its region schedule, finishing 6-2. Mid-Carolina and NSHS are both 5-2. Mid-Carolina takes on Abbeville on Monday, while Ninety Six takes on Abbeville on Tuesday.

If Abbeville wins both games, Saluda wins the title outright. If one or both win, there will be a special game to determine the region championship. Regardless of the scenario, Saluda will be playing in that game that will determine the region’s No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.

If it’s a 3-way tie, the two teams that gave up the fewest runs in the four games between the schools – each won a game and lost a game to the others – will face off at a neutral site. Those two teams will be Saluda and Ninety Six.

Tigers head coach Hannah Towery is hoping her team, ranked second in the latest High School Sports Report AA poll, can steady things for the special game and the upcoming playoffs. Though the losses have come against ninth-ranked Ninety Six and No. 11 Mid-Carolina, Towery believes SHS has hit a lull.

“We've had a great year. We've only lost three games,” said Towery, whose team owns a 16-3 overall record after going 8-17 last year. “They've done really, really well, they've bought into what we're doing as a team. They've just got to keep doing that. There's been a little lack of confidence here lately. It's part of the game, and it's something we're going to have to overcome late in the year.”

Saluda won its home game against M-C 8-2 earlier in the week to put itself in position to clinch the region title on Friday. After being no-hit through the first four innings and falling behind 2-0, the Tigers scored four times in the top of the fifth inning to grab the lead.

However, it got away from them in the bottom of the sixth. The Lady Rebels, who improved to 10-6 on the season, got some timely hits and took advantage of a couple of errors to push across five runs.

 Nora Cutler, who hit a 2-run home run off of Saluda starting pitcher Sam Minick in the fourth to give M-C the lead, blooped a double into short left field to open the inning. Courtesy runner Josalyn Gallman moved to third on Katie Gallman’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Raelyn Livingston to make it 4-3.

 Livingston got to second on a wild pitch and scored on Kassidy Sanders’ single to tie the game. That got Mid-Carolina to the top of the batting order where Symari Bowers drew a walk from Minick. Gabi Riddle hit a sharp ground ball that went under the glove of third baseman Ella Gentry, allowing Sanders to score the go-ahead run. Malloree Grimsley reached on an error as well against new pitcher Miller Martin, allowing Bowers to score and make it 6-4. The final run came in on an RBI single by Savannah Moore.

“Defensively we just started letting things happen instead of making things happen,” Towery said. “We kind of fell apart there a little bit. We got in a little bit of a slump. We hung our heads a little bit. It was too late in the game, and we just couldn't come back from it.”

 Hannah Mills got a leadoff single to open the seventh against Riddle, who was in her second inning in relief of M-C starting pitcher Mary Grace Bryant. However, Riddle retired the next three batters to pick up the victory.

 Mid-Carolina head coach Joey Long couldn’t have been much happier with the way his team rebounded.

“What a game,” Long said. “Hats off to Saluda. They have a heck of a team. Our girls play hard, and this is kind of the way you want region to wrap up. Our kids just keep fighting. They went up, they got down and they just didn't quit. That's just so important for me.”

 The left-handed Bryant cruised through the first four innings. She didn’t allow a hit and struck out six batters and faced just one batter over the limit. The one batter to reach was Taylor Widemon, who was hit by a pitch with one out in the third. She was sacrificed to second base by Amy Sorcia. Leadoff hitter Tamia Daniels followed with a scorching line drive to center that was snagged on a great catch by centerfielder Bowers to end the inning.

 The Lady Rebels broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Anna Milstead led off with a single and came home on Cutler’s homer two batters later.

 The Tigers broke up the no-hitter and the shutout as well as grabbing the lead in the fifth. Gentry led off the inning with a single and scored on a triple by Minick down the right field line. Bryant looked as though she might leave Minick stranded, retiring the next two batters. However, Sorcia dropped an RBI single into right to make it 2-2. Daniels followed with a single to set up a 2-run single by Ava Martin that made it 4-2.

Gentry had two of SHS’ six hits. The Lady Rebels finished with nine hits. Cutler had the double and home run for her two hits, while Milstead had two hits. Bowers was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run. Katie Gallman also had a hit.

Long hopes the comeback victory will be something his squad can ride into the postseason.

“We've stumbled in games,” he said. “Our youth has kind of caught up with us at times, but tonight we grew up. We kept fighting for each other, kept battling for each other. That's what we preached all year. Do this together and let's have one common goal for each other, and we saw that tonight.

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“I told my kids, ‘I'm not sure where we'll fall. What we've done up to this point we can't help. It is what it is.’ What we can do is to continue to build off of this. A big win like this, with the playoffs in two weeks, let's continue to build off of what we've done right here. Third place, second place, first place, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just build off of this.”

Daniels is the leading hitter for Saluda with a .393 batting average. She has a team high 26 runs scored and seven doubles to with a triple, three homers and 19 runs batted in.

 Jayme Sheaffer is batting .382 with three doubles, two homers and 17 RBI, while Gentry leads the team in homers with four and RBI with 23 to go with five doubles and a triple and a .364 average. Jana Pou is batting .333 with 17 RBI and a team high 13 stolen bases, Ava Martin is batting .328, and Minick is batting .297.

Minick has a 1.63 earned run average in 77 1/3 innings pitched. She has 99 strikeouts while allowing 66 hits and 21 walks.

Miller Martin has a 2.91 ERA in 33 2/3 innings with 57 Ks.