Coffee County Lady Raiders stayed in it until the end, but the Farragut Lady Admirals pulled away late in a 4-3 victory on Wednesday in an elimination game in the TSSAA Class 4-A state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Hailey Nichols and Laney Shrader homered in the top of the sixth inning to give Farragut a 3-2 lead. The Lady Admirals upped their advantage to 4-2, and the speedy Addison Pressley reached on an error and later scored on an Elsa Morrison single.
Coffee County’s offense got going in the second inning when 3rd baseman Channah Gannon blasted a long home run to centerfield for a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Madison Pruitt got on base after being hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the 7th, Chesnie Cox blooped a ball over the Farragut shortstop into short leftfield and hustled into 2nd base for a double. Willow Carden singled on a 0-1 count, scoring Cox to make it 4-3. Carden’s RBI gives her the school record for RBI in one season with 49. She had been tied with Kaitlyn Davis. Kaitlyn Davis holds the career mark of 110.
Carden and Jalyn Moran had two hits each in the game for the Lady Raiders.
Emma MacTavish was the winning pitcher for Farragut as she pitched a complete game, surrendering three runs on eight hits over seven innings, striking out three, and walking one.
Kaitlyn Davis took the loss in her final game as a Coffee County Lady Raiders. The outstanding senior allowed nine hits and four runs over seven innings, striking out three and walking none.
Coffee County wrapped up their straight trip to the TSSAA Spring Fling with an overall record of 27-9. In the state tournament lineup, the Lady Raiders will only lose two starters in Davis and Alivia Reel for 2024. Other seniors include that competed this season are Aleayia Barnes, Kara Beth Patton, and Cheyenne Vickers.
Top photo: Channah Gannon crushes a home run against Farragut
