Lady Devils light up Thomas County Central, 11-4

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, October 5, 2022

TIFTON — Lady Devils head coach Taylor Barber had been waiting on this. Tift County scored two runs in the 2nd inning Oct. 4 and kept scoring and scoring some more. Meanwhile, Lily Robinson and a stellar defense quieted Thomas County Central’s bats and Tift won, 11-5.

“That was awesome,” said Barber. He admitted that earlier in the afternoon he was “absolutely a nervous wreck” about what this game meant for the season. Tift had needed to win at least two of three region games during the week to qualify for the state tournament.

Remarkably, Tift was behind after an inning. Sarah Stewart started the contest with a triple to deep center, scoring on an infield hit by Gabriel Miles. Cloey O’Doniel replaced Miles on the bases and made it 2-0 on the frame’s second triple, this one by O’miyah Blalock.

The Lady Devils had two hits in the 1st but the momentum began to shift in the bottom of the 2nd.

Delanie Jewell and Angie Martinez had back-to-back singles.

With one out, Abby Henderson singled to center, bringing in Jewell.

Ella Bruce was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting up Loralee Bennett to knot the score at 2-2 with another single.

Each side scored once in the 3rd: TCC on a double by Miles (scoring Stewart) and Tift on Martinez’s double, which plated Jewell.

The Lady Jackets’ scoring machine began to run out of steam after the 3rd. O’Doniel homered over the left field wall in the 5th, but Robinson was ice cold against everyone else.

The hosts, however, were just getting warmed up.

They took the lead for good with three in the bottom of the 4th. Three more followed in the 5th and two in the 6th.

Bennett, Bailee Williams and Gracee Wood loaded the bases to start the 4th. Wood was plunked on the helmet by a pitch, but softly enough that she didn’t even need an athletic trainer to check on her.

Macy Hand’s base hit brought in Bennett, with Williams coming home, too, after a throwing miscue. Jewell made it 6-3 with a sac fly.

One inning later left no doubt this would be the Lady Devils’ game.

“We needed big pitching and big plays,” Barber said. Robinson continued her rapid growth as a pitcher and hitter. He was even more proud of the situational hitting. TCC made a mound visit to try to slow the Lady Devils down. While they talked, he talked: “Let’s bust this thing open.” Tift doubled immediately after.

Kensie Law (running for Robinson) scored on a double by Bennett. That brought up Williams.

Williams had been getting good swings against Laney Mobley all day. This time, she clobbered a pitch, sending it far over the right field fence.

Tift was up 9-4 and still not finished.

Robinson lined a double to left field in the 7th, Hand and Martinez coming home for the 10th and 11th runs. Tift almost walked it off via run rule, but Jada Pinkins made a diving catch to rob Bruce of a base hit.

Barber’s plan was to use all three of his regular pitchers, Robinson, Gracee Wood and Emily Rowe to see if something stuck. He abandoned that plan when Robinson began cruising. Robinson ended up going the distance.

He talked about the roller coaster of the past few weeks. Tift played some of its best softball against Northside. Then, last week, they went 0-4, despite playing well in most games. Against Thomas County Central, “We knew what was on the line.”

“We tore it up and answered the bell,” he said.