CALEDONIA — Outside of one disastrous inning, the Caledonia High School softball team played flawlessly in the field and matched Amory High at the plate.
That one inning, though, was a dagger to the Lady Confederates’ chances of advancing to the Class 4A North State Championship series. Caledonia gave up seven runs, including three doubles to open the first inning in a 10-0 loss to Amory in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.
Amory won a nip-and-tuck Game 2, erasing a short-lived 1-0 Caledonia lead en route to a 3-2 win. Amory will play host the winner of the Corinth-Kosciusko series on Tuesday night.
While Caledonia didn’t have a back-breaking inning in Game 2, the issue that plagued the team throughout the season popped up again Saturday: lack of offense.
But it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
Coach Robin Elmore allowed her players to be aggressive at the plate, as players often took rips at the first pitch. And while they hit balls hard, most were line drives to fielders.
Caledonia had 11 hits in the games and went three-and-out in seven cumulative innings. Hope Harbin tried to get the top of the order going in Game 2, going 2-for-3. Holli Carter also went 2-for-3 in Game 2.
“The big issue is not waiting for the pitch,” Elmore said. “They want to run, and when they move up they get under the ball. It’s been an issue trying to get that straightened out this year. Line-drivers and grounders? I can live with those. I hate fly balls.”
Despite multiple cold spells at the plate, Caledonia had its chances to force a third game. The Lady Confederates notched a run in the second inning following a single by Carter, but a confusing call on a tag and a slow-roller accounted for two outs in what should have been runners on the corners with one out. Then, in the sixth inning, Landri Brown opened the inning with the first of back-to-back singles. Two outs followed before Alex Burns drove in a run to get Caledonia within one, but that was all for the Lady Confederates, who finished the season 8-17.
“We’ve all gotten better this year, and you could see that in the second game,” said Carter, a senior transfer from Clarksdale. “We did a much better job of communicating and not letting bad play affect us. But like coach said, we just couldn’t get the hits.”
Amory’s explosive first inning in Game 1 caused some Caledonia players to press at the plate and it ultimately affected their confidence.
For Amory coach Chris Pace, the lack of offense outside of the opening inning of the series was alarming and uncharacteristic of how his team, which is 27-5, has played this year.
“That was a pretty good series,” Pace said. “We’d played them twice and had success against them, but we didn’t come out and attack the ball like we normally do. We snuck out of here with two wins. We’re playing for North Half, so I can’t complain about that.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.