The 14U Lady Aces, comprised primarily of softball players from Logan County and Russellville high schools, played its first weekend tournament of the summer Saturday at Clarksville’s Heritage Park as part of USGF action.
The Lady Aces won two of their first three games and had been told they had won their fourth game 6-3 before that ruling was overturned. They had to play another inning and a half in that game and suffered a disappointing 9-8 loss. The disappointment showed in their final game of the day.
The Lady Aces scored four runs in the first inning of their pool opener against McRage and held on for a 4-2 win. The first three batters reached to start the season. Meagan Ferguson and Sierra Morrow began with back-to-back singles, and Tara Gilbert was hit by a pitch. After an out, Teanna Gray singled, Holly Porter hit a sacrifice fly to center field, and Tristan Hales doubled to clear the bases.
Not another Lady Ace reached base, which was scary, but Ferguson took care of business on the mound after a slow start. The first three batters reached for McRage on doubles, and two of them scored, but that was it in the runs category. There were four more total base runners in the four innings, but Ferguson and the Aces’ defense kept them short of home plate.
Next came a 5-4 loss to the Lady Titans. Ferguson and Morrow both reached to begin the game. Ferguson singled and Morrow reached on a bunt. Gilbert and Rachel Barnett drove them in on ground balls. Reagan Cole singled in the second but didn’t score.
The other two Lady Aces’ runs scored in the third inning. Tiffany Gray led off with a walk, and Ferguson bunted her way on. With two outs, Barnett drove them in. In the fourth, Porter got to second as the potential tying run. She was out at third for the team’s final out.
Gilbert pitched two scoreless innings but the Lady Titans scored four runs on four hits and a walk in the third inning. The Titans’ leadoff batter walked and scored to end the game.
The Lady Aces ran their record to 2-1 by outscoring Riptide 8-5. Ferguson pitched the win and also filled her role as leadoff hitter effectively by getting three hits, including two doubles. Gilbert had a double and scored two runs.
In the first inning, Ferguson and Gilbert doubled, and Teanna Gray and Porter drove them in. The second inning found Cole singling as the leadoff batter. After two outs, Ferguson doubled and Morrow singled for RBIs. Teanna Gray and Porter each singled with two outs in the third, but they were stranded.
The fourth inning produced four Aces runs. Jordan Belcher singled, and with two outs Ferguson singled, Morrow and Gilbert both reached, and they all scored.
All five Riptide runs scored in the first two innings, but Ferguson allowed only two more hits and no other baserunners the rest of the game.
The fourth game had a controversial ending. With the Aces ahead 6-3 in the middle of the fifth inning, the umpire ruled the game was over on time. But the Lady Titans complained, saying 45 seconds remained on the clock. The umpires resumed the game, and the Lady Titans scored three runs to tie it. The Lady Aces still scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning as Barnett was put on second under international rules, and Teanna Gray and Hales followed with RBI doubles. The Titans then scored three runs in the bottom of the inning for the 9-8 win.
The Lady Aces’ first six runs scored in the third. After an out, Tiffany Gray and Ferguson singled, Morrow reached, and Gilbert singled. After a second out, Teanna Gray, Porter and Hales all reached.
Hales, who singled in the second, was on base in all three at-bats. Gilbert singled in the first inning.
“Our girls were really disappointed because they had been told they had won the game,” Coach Kevin Ferguson said. “It took a lot of out of us in this game and the next. We would have had a chance to finish in the top three if we had won this game. The Lady Titans went on to finish second.”
The disappointment plus fatigue with only 10 players in five games in the sun showed in the Lady Aces’ final game. They lost 13-0 to the McRage, which they had beaten to start the tournament. The Aces got only three hits in this game, a leadoff first inning single by Ferguson and then back-to-back hits by Hales and Porter in the third. Ferguson was erased on a double play and the other two were stranded.
Felix Gilbert and Jeff Belcher assisted Kevin Ferguson with the coaching. Five members of the team—Gilbert, Ferguson, Morrow, Cole and Teanna Gray—participated the WKU Summer Elite Softball Camp the first three days of this week along with Lady Cougars Cierra Johnson and Taylor Borders.
The Lady Aces will play at Hopkinsville’s Ruff Park Saturday. Their first two games are against the Bombers of Todd County and the SEMO Sluggers in pool play before entering tournament play.