For six innings Saturday morning in Gulf Shores at the South Regional, the T.R. Miller Lady Tiger softball team was playing their best ball of the season according to head coach Greg White.
With the score tied 0-0 and needing a win over familiar area foe Excel to advance in the tournament and stave off elimination, the Lady Tigers went into the top of the seventh inning needing three outs without giving up a run to the Lady Panthers to have a chance to get a win in the bottom of the inning.
That is when a scene similar to the Steve Bartman incident during a 2003 Chicago Cubs playoff game could be related to the seventh inning for the Lady Tigers where after an unusual play in the field, everything that could go wrong for the Lady Tigers, went wrong.
After a leadoff single for Excel to start the inning, a delayed hit by pitch call by the umpire put runners on first and second for Excel with no outs. The ball hit off Lady Tiger catcher Leah Brundidge, but was later called a hit batter for the Lady Panthers.
From there, things fell apart for T.R. Miller as the Lady Tigers made three errors followed by a Excel single and two more errors along with four more Excel hits to take an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, T.R. Miller got a leadoff single and a stolen base, but nothing after as they lost 8-0 to end their season with a 23-15 record.
“It was a great ballgame for six innings,” T.R. Miller Lady Tiger head coach Greg White said. “We played possibly the best ball we have played all year for six innings. We had a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of positives. We had some great plays made by everybody. The play that kind of opened the door was the botched call on the hit batter. It gave them runners on first and second with no outs and they started to bunt and we made an error and before you know it, we are down four runs and it just snowballs from there.”
White said pitcher Taylor Guthrie pitched extremely well, but they just could not get that hit when they needed it.
“We gave ourselves a chance and that is what we told them before we started was to just give ourselves a chance,” White said. “We did that, but just came up a little short. It was a heck of a year. We tied for the most wins in school history with 23 that was set last year. We had a final ranking of No. 5 in the state, which is something we have never done before. So, we have done some good things. The senior class will be missed more than they will ever know. That is a great bunch of kids and I will miss them like crazy.”
T.R. Miller had a chance to take an early lead in the game as they stranded Guthrie at third base in the bottom of the sixth inning.
T.R. Miller had seven hits in the loss and left five runners on base while Excel made no errors. Excel had 10 hits in the win and left six runners on base while T.R. Miller made eight errors in the loss.
Guthrie took the loss on the mound for the Lady Tigers going seven innings allowing 10 hits, eight runs, two earned, walked one, hit two and struck out two.
At the plate for the Lady Tigers, Brundidge and Natalie Neal were 1-for-3. Guthrie was 2-for-3 and Emily Waters was 1-for-3.
Leigh Margaret Bostic was 2-for-3 at the plate in the loss.
Excel went on to advance to the state tournament next week in Montgomery as they clinched the runner-up spot, losing to Geneva in the regional finals.