By Chris Yow
MURFREESBORO — Averi Slaughter was only “a little mad” when she found out her Bible teacher, Russell Smith, was the one who mentioned the perfect game she was in the middle of pitching before a seventh-inning walk broke it up.
That walk, however, was the only baserunner allowed by the junior, who struck out 13 Jackson Christian hitters en route to a 3-0 win in the Division II-A softball state tournament on Tuesday.
Three runs were more than enough for Slaughter, but when Columbia Academy couldn’t push a single run across after loading the bases with no outs in the fifth inning, coach Seth Anderson wasn’t pleased.
“I told the girls to feel good about getting to the winners bracket finals, but recognize that we have to be better,” he said. “We can’t leave bases loaded and not get a run across.”
Myleah Hardy had no issue pushing runs across the plate in her second at-bat of the day with the bases loaded.
“Myleah’s bat has been big all year, and she barrels it up and hits it hard every time,” Anderson said. “She’s just been clutch for us all year.”
Hardy certainly came up clutch in the second inning.
After watching Karli Quillen take four consecutive balls, she went to the plate with a hit on her mind. Did the school’s single-season home run leader actually think she would get a pitch to hit?
“I didn’t know, but I was looking to hit the ball,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking about a home run or anything, I just wanted to get a base hit and score some runs.”
She did, which added to the first-inning RBI from Tori Duval and gave Slaughter the three-run lead she felt comfortable protecting.
“I have my job and I just had to go out and do it,” Slaughter said. “They got three runs, and I definitely feel good with that as a cushion. Three runs is all we needed.”
Columbia Academy advances to take on Tipton-Rosemark, a 6-4 winner over Silverdale Academy, at 11:30 on Wednesday morning. A win would put the Lady Dawgs in the championship game.
“We have to come in focused and have good at-bats at the plate,” Anderson said.