Bella Wright knew she had a moment to turn the momentum fully around.
Tellico’s lead was to a slender two runs and the host Lady Chiefs had two runners on and one out.
Wright saw the ball come off the barrel of Bella Hall’s bat and pounced. Diving for the catch, Wright secured the ball and flipped it to first, turning a double play that immediately changed the environment in Madisonville.
The play was not the final nail, but was a significant one that led to Tellico Plains downing Sequoyah 4-3 in eight innings on Saturday, earning the Lady Bears their first win over Sequoyah since 2019.
“It took all the pressure off of us and put it on them. It was a great, timely play,” Tellico Plains coach Don Swanson said.
Sequoyah was inches from loading the bases with no outs and the top of the order stepping in. After turning the double play, Tellico was able to manage decisions.
Kaleigh Atchley’s single scored BriAsya Bowman, but the open bases allowed Tellico to walk Alicia Kimble. One batter later, Tellico (6-4) secured the win.
“We were in a really good position to capitalize, but that play was huge. It was a bit of a floater kind of hit and a mistake that was really costly right there,” Sequoyah coach Allen Roberts said. “If we don’t get doubled off we get another crack at it. And they could not have walked Alicia. That gave them the opportunity to intentionally walk Alicia.”
Tellico did not lead in the contest until the top of the eighth. Meya Keener’s liner scored Kadence Moses, who was on board through the international tiebreaker rule: placing a runner on second base to start extra innings.
Sequoyah looked to escape the frame with two outs in succession, but Tellico found the eventual game-winning run when Addie Woods’ RBI single scored Keener.
“I gave them a little hint of being around ball my whole life. I told them ‘Get deep in the box and close to the plate and that backdoor curve would be a little easier to hit,’” Swanson said.
“Obviously, it must have been,” Swanson joked.
Tellico got on the board two innings early through an error in right field. The moment allowed Jagger Ziglar to get on the bags, Moses to score and Sidney Scott to advance to third.
Scott tied the game in the next at-bat, tagging up on Woods’ flyout.
“All the young girls and first years came out and did great jobs,” Swanson added. “Sidney Scott did a great job coming in and starting as a freshman. We are very proud of her and all the young girls.”
Sequoyah’s offense found more success earlier on. The Lady Chiefs (7-4) opened up the scoring when Tynleigh Ray’s two-run home run soared out of left field in the bottom of the second.
Ray has homered four times in 2024.
Runs were at a premium throughout the night, a product of Sequoyah’s Atchley and Tellico’s Moses combining for 22 strikeouts.
“(Atchley) pitched well. She got a little tired at the end I felt like, but she pitched well,” Roberts said. “They did a good job adjusting to her and strung together some hits those last few innings.”
Atchley struck out 12 batters on the night.
Moses struck out 10 Lady Chiefs including seven batters in the five shutout innings between Sequoyah’s scoring frames.
“Kaleigh is a good pitcher. She has a good backdoor curve and it took us a while to figure it out. She does a good job,” Swanson said. “(Moses) is doing great and pitching really good. She is in tune.”
Sequoyah was held to one hit — a single from Griffitts — during the five scoreless innings.
“It was a good game. We just did not hit consistently and chased a lot of pitches out of the zone. We kind of got ourselves behind in counts,” Roberts said. “I felt like that hurt us offensively. Tellico Plains started stringing together some hits and I feel like their pitcher did a really good job.
“Some clutch plays here and there. We had a big error in the outfield that allowed them to get back. But, overall, I felt like we played pretty good outside of the hitting.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Tellico because I thought they outplayed us.”
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