By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Even though end result would have been the same either way, T.R. Miller Lady Tigers softball coach Greg White felt it was important for his team's season to have ended with the kind of effort it put forth in Tuesday's second game of its sub-state series at Thomasville rather than the way it played in the first game.
The host Lady Tigers blasted a pair of homeruns,
collected 11 hits in all and needed just four and a half innings to win the first game 18-4. Thomasville then closed out the series with a 4-2 victory in game two.
Each of T.R. Miller's four postseason losses followed the same trend of following behind in the first inning. The visiting Lady Tigers spotted Thomasville (29-11) a five-run rally in the opening inning of game one and a three-run spot in the first inning of game two.
Two T.R. Miller errors fueled Thomasville's five-run first inning, which also included a walk to Shanekia Nickelson and singles by Ashley Crawford, Dominique Waters and Brianna Penn.
Thomasville ran its lead to 9-0 in the second inning with four more runs, one of which came on a solo homerun by Nickelson to start the frame. The inning gained more steam when Savannah Smith walked, Waters and Nicole Washington singled and Shelby Myers reached on an infield error.
T.R. Miller got on the board in the third when Rachel Bostic and Natalie Neal walked followed by a two-run triple by Leslie Nalty.
The host Lady Tigers put themselves in position to win the game on the mercy rule when they put up six more runs in the bottom of the third and ran their lead to 15-2. The first five of those runners reached base on walks. The lone hit for Thomasville in the inning came when Cassie Flint drilled a two-run double that made it 15-2.
Thomasville helped ensure the game would end early when Washington's three-run homer in the fourth made it 18-2.
Thomasville, which was the visiting team in game two, again got all the runs it needed in the first inning. Nickelson singled and Smith walked. Nickelson stole third and scored on a wild pitch. Smith was erased on an unassisted double play when Crawford lined out to T.R. Miller third baseman Leah Brundidge, but a walk to Waters, an RBI double by Washington and an RBI single by Christi Taylor made it 3-0.
Thomasville picked up an unearned run in the third when it widened its lead to 4-0. Crawford walked, stole second, went to third on a throwing error and scored when Taylor reached on an error.
T.R. Miller had just three hits in the game and all three came in the bottom of the fourth when it scored both of its runs. Janel McCorvey beat out an infield single and Natalie Neal also singled. McCorvey stole third and scored on a groundout by Nalty. Neal came home to score on an infield single by Taylor Guthrie, which trimmed the lead to just 4-2.
Despite the one uprising, the Lady Tigers never got another runner against Thomasville pitcher Savannah Smith.
Game one
T.R. Miller 002 02 – 4 4 4
Thomasville 546 3X - 18 11 2
Game two
Thomasville 301 000 0 - 4 8 0
T.R. Miller 000 200 0 - 2 3 1