Before the 2018 season began, Commerce head softball coach Melissa Mullis said her team needed to learn each other and establish and accept roles.
When Rachel Morgan crossed home plate on a wild pitch Saturday afternoon to clinch the Tigers’ second-straight Region 8-A championship, it is safe to say the Tigers learned a lot about each other in the regular season and figured out their roles.
The Tigers (22-5) clinched the region championship with a 9-1 rout of Prince Avenue. The game ended via a run-rule after Morgan scored in the fifth inning. The Tigers have won 17 games in a row. Their last loss came Aug. 30 to Prince Avenue.
“I’m so proud,” Mullis said after her team’s triumph. “The girls have worked extremely hard.
“It’s not today just everything coming together. It has been a long journey. This is what you work all summer for. This is what you do your camp for. This what you play those hard and difficult games and you win some, lose some for. I’m super proud that they have embraced everything and they’re fighters. They’re resilient. My goal for them was this game, to show no doubt that they were deserving of (the) region championship. I believe that they did that.”
During the region tournament, the Tigers scored 35 runs and didn’t lose a game. They defeated Prince Avenue twice. In both games, the Tigers trailed on one point during the game.
“Prince is a great team,” Mullis said. “They have a lot of fight in them.
“I’m super proud that the girls were able to keep their intensity up even though Prince was hitting the ball really well. Our girls stayed steady. That’s emotional consistency. That’s what champions do is they stay emotionally consistent throughout a game, no matter what happens, and you become victorious because of that.”
The Tigers were able to get 13 hits off of Prince Avenue in the championship game. The defense only committed one error. Teresa Dixon pitched four innings, allowing only six hits and recording one strikeout.
“I’m just happy I could be a part of this team,” Dixon said. “I pitched the best I could.
“I’m so proud of my teammates. They play so good behind me. They have my back every game that I pitch. I’m so thankful for them.”
Grace Hobbs led the team with two RBIs and had a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. The hit gave the Tigers a 6-1 edge.
“It’s a very big accomplishment, because I feel like this is going to help us going into state,” Hobbs said. “It’s going to helps us emotionally. I feel like it’s going to help us get a lead.”
Hobbs believed people still doubted the Tigers. But Saturday’s win showed Commerce can play with anyone.
“I think we can win state and definitely go far in state,” Hobbs said. “It just feels really good. It’s a big accomplishment. It has everybody’s emotions happy.”
Prince Avenue got on the board first Saturday, scoring on an error by the Tigers’ defense in the top of the first. But the Tigers’ offense was ready to go and get the game back in the Tigers’ favor.
The Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the first when an Emma Davis single plated Kylee Taylor. Carson Hobbs scored on a wild pitch to give the Tigers the go-ahead lead. Then, a Maggie Mullis single brought Davis home and the Tigers led 3-1 after the first.
The lead increased in the bottom of the second. After a two-out single, double and walk loaded the bases, Grace Hobbs connected with a single and scored Gabbie Deaton. The lead was 4-1 after two innings. Deaton led the Tigers with three hits.
The Tigers were able to add another run in the third inning. After a failed sacrifice-bunt attempt and a groundout, Deaton singled to score Maggie Blackmon. The lead was 5-1.
Deaton also came up big in the field during the top of the fourth. With Prince Avenue runners on second and third base, Deaton snagged line-drive shot to end the inning and keep potential runs off the board.
Grace Hobbs pushed the Tigers’ lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth with her solo homer to left field. The fifth inning, though, is where the Tigers made their push to end the game.
Blackmon led the inning off with a double. Mullis followed by reaching via an error. Morgan followed with an RBI single that plated Blackmon. Deaton loaded the bases with her final hit of the game.
After a sacrifice fly plated Anna Taylor, the Tigers were one run away from ending the game. Then a Prince Avenue wild pitch gave Morgan an opportunity, which she took full advantage of from third base and scored the region-clinching run.
“I really think there was a fight there that they tried to maintain,” Mullis described, “so that we would not have to go to that second game.
“I could see their confidence in a special way. Sometimes their confidence, you can it in little peaks and stuff, but this time it was pretty consistent that no matter if we gave up a hit, someone got to second base, we were still going to win, maybe not give up a ran, but we were still going to win. That’s huge. I believe our girls belong in the final eight, for sure, because of that very thing.”
For more tournament coverage, read this week's edition of
The Jackson Herald.
