Cloudland Tops North Greene To Force If Necessary Game

ELIZABETHTON — It was only fitting that the District 1-A softball tournament championship game felt like a heavyweight title bout.

North Greene erased a 5-0 deficit – including trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the seventh – but was unable to strike in extra innings in a 6-5 loss to Cloudland in the championship on Friday night.

"I think we have a lot of girls that want to win," said North Greene coach Danny Weems, whose Lady Huskies drop to 12-9. "They want to be in big games and they want to win big games so I knew they would battle to the last out and the last strike and that is what they did."

The Cloudland win forces an if necessary game that will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at Unaka High School.

Cloudland broke onto the board in the top of the third with three runs, and the Lady Highlanders added a single run in the fourth and a single run in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

North Greene, however, battled back.

Heidi Harmon and Matti Phillips each hit a one-out single, and Hannah Brooks hit a line drive to center field that plated the two runs.

That allowed North Greene to trim the gap to 5-2.

Neither team was able to get anything going in the sixth, setting the stage for a North Greene's seventh-inning rally.

After a strikeout started the frame, Harmon and Phillips drew walks, and Brooks plated the two runs with a shot to center field. Loren Blevins tied things with a double that plated Brooks.

North Greene got the winning run to third base but couldn't push it across.

Cloudland's Reagan Turbyfull opened the top of the eighth with a triple and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a hit from Jayla Harper.

"There is just a lot of plays that didn't go our way, and they did go Cloudland's way," Weems said.

Brooks went 2-for-4 with four RBI, while Blevins had two hits and an RBI.

In the circle, Brooks went four innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts, while Phillips allowed one earned run on three hits in four innings.

Cloudland's Savannah McCoury and Ryan Turbyfill each had two hits.

Cloudland and North Greene have split four games this season.

"I hope (Saturday) is a really good game just like tonight's was," Weems said. "And like most times when we play Cloudland when there is a lot on the line, it is a pretty good game."