Lady Tigers slip past FC girls in 3A softball playoffs

Franklin County’s post-season bid in the 3A fast-pitch softball playoffs came to an abrupt end on Monday, April 24 after back-to-back losses to the McLaurin High School Lady Tigers in a best two-of-three series.

The Lady Bulldogs, who finished as the No. 2 seed from District 7-3A, took a 10-1 home win in the first contest played on Friday, April 21.

From there, McLaurin — ranked as the No. 3 seeded program from District 6-3A — posted a 7-5 victory on Saturday, April 22 and claimed a 6-4 series-deciding win on Monday.

Franklin County finished its 2023 campaign with a 12-12 overall mark.

Here is a breakdown of the opening-round of playoff games:

McLAURIN 6, FC 4

Despite an early lead for Franklin County after three innings, McLaurin made the most of its chances by coming from behind late on Monday to take a 6-4 win.

FC outhit the visiting Lady Tigers, 7-3, and both teams finished with three errors apiece.

McLaurin scored a run each in the first, third, fifth and sixth frames and two more in the seventh as Franklin County scored twice in the latter half of the second and one apiece in the third and seventh.

Two Lady Bulldogs — Karlee Wallace and Amberly Wallace — finished with a 2-of-4 showing at the plate thanks to two singles and a run apiece.

Karlee Wallace also reached on an error and flied out while Amberly Wallace struck out twice.

Marlee Tindle, Indayshia Morgan and Marianna Thomas were all 1-of-3 in the hitting department as the trio had a single each with Tindle and Thomas crossing home plate one time.

Both Tindle and Morgan grounded out and flied out while Thomas lined out and grounded out.

Greyonne Queen, who was 0-of-3 with two ground outs and a strike out, collected an RBI.

Katherine Romero finished 0-of-2 after being hit by a pitch, reaching on an error and flying out and Sadye Scott went 0-of-3 after lining out twice, flying out once and being hit by a pitch.

Jhalayah Tillman wound up 0-of-4 in flying out three times and grounding out once.

Karlee Wallace went the seven-innings distance in the game from the pitching circle for the Lady Dawgs and faced off against 34 McLaurin batters with a final pitch-to-strike ratio of 128-78 (60.9 percent).

She was tagged for six runs (two earned) on three hits by the Lady Tigers while walking six and striking out eight.

McLAURIN 7, FC 5

Franklin County collected six hits and made only one error in its 7-5 loss on Saturday to McLaurin, which finished with five hits and made four miscues.

Romero and Tillman paced the FC offensive effort with a pair of singles apiece with the former going 2-of-3 and the latter finishing 2-of-4.

Both players scored a run and were credited with an RBI each.
Tindle and Morgan each finished with one hit as Tindle blasted a triple in the second inning and Morgan connected on a single in the third.

Tindle was 1-of-4 in the game with a run scored, a walk and a strike out.

Morgan, who was 1-of-3, grounded out twice against the Lady Tigers.

Amberly Wallace, 0-of-3, reached on an error twice and walked once in scoring one run.

Going 0-of-2 in at-bats, Thomas scored a run after walking once, striking out and grounding out.

Queen, despite grounding out three times and lining out once in an 0-of-4 hitting performance, earned an RBI,

Karlee Wallace and Scott, who both handled pitching duties in the game, were also hitless with the former drawing a walk.

Karlee Wallace faced 30 McLaurin batters from the circle and gave up seven runs (all earned) on four hits with six walks issued and seven strike outs over the course of five innings.

Scott, in relief, worked one inning and was tagged for one hit in facing six batters while walking one and striking out one.

FC 10, McLAURIN 1

Franklin County dominated last Friday’s first-round playoff contest by pounding out 12 hits in a 10-1 finish at home.

Queen paced the Lady Bulldogs with a 3-of-4 effort at the plate that saw her connect on three singles and cross home plate twice.

Karlee Wallace (2-of-3) and Tindle (2-of-4) wound up scoring twice apiece for the Lady Bulldogs with the former hitting a single and triple with two RBI as the latter dinged a single and double with a three RBI.

Morgan also had a 2-of-3 effort with a pair of singles and a walk.

Amberly Wallace went 1-of-2 with a run scored, a single and two walks.

Scott and Romero finished 1-of-4 as Scott had a single and RBI and Romero doubled and collected three RBI.

Tillman and Thomas were both 0-of-3, but scored a run apiece with Tillman walking once and Thomas reaching on an error.

Karlee Wallace went the seven-innings distance in taking the hurling victory.

In battling 29 batters in total, she gave up only one run on two hits to McLaurin.

She issued a lone walk while striking out 10 Lady Tigers at the plate.

Her pitch-to-strike ratio was 91-62 (68.13 percent).