By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
As the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers walked off the softball field after Monday's 12-4 loss to LAMP in game three of the Class 3A sub-state round, they did so with more than just the end of their season in the books. They also ended an era.
Seniors Terri Lynne Peacock, Leigh Cooper, Emily Layton, Catherine Layton and Haley Rilling helped raise the bar of expectations for future Lady Tiger squads with their accomplishments over the past three seasons. A sixth senior, Meghan Hubbard, joined the program this year and helped add to those contributions.
The accomplishments include three straight 18-win seasons, three straight Class 3A Area 1 championships, three straight first-round sub-state series victories and one trip to the state tournament.
Peacock and Catherine Layton will get to continue their playing careers next spring at Jefferson Davis Community College. It was the final game for the other four.
As one would expect, T.R. Miller's senior bunch brought their ‘A' game with them for Monday's series against LAMP. They batted .367 for the three games (18-for-49) and drove in 11 runs.
The Lady Tigers also started some youth in their finale. Counting flex player Janel McCorvey in centerfield, T.R. Miller started three sophomores, a freshman and an eighth grader in its final game against LAMP.
The non-seniors had mixed results. They hit .263 on the day (10-for-38) with three RBIs. They also accounted for 16 strikeouts. However, one player accounted for most of that production. Sophomore second baseman Leslie Nalty was six-for-nine with three RBIs. She also threw three
and one-third innings of scoreless relief in T.R. Miller's game two victory. Take her production away and the rest of the non-seniors were four-for-29, a .137 average with 16 strikeouts and no RBIs.
White can only wonder what would have happened if Monday's series would have been played at another site.
It was originally supposed to have been played at Lagoon Park Saturday, but was rained out. The series was then shifted to Thompson Park, which has much shorter dimensions than the field at Lagoon.
Perhaps none of LAMP catcher Sara Allen's three homeruns in game three would have gone out on the bigger field.