By By Adam Robinson
Sports Editor
Before the season started, the 2009 T.R. Miller softball team had a goal to reach the regionals in Gulf Shores.
On Wednesday in the class 3A area 1 softball tournament, the Lady Tigers accomplished that goal, but not they way the were probably hoping for.
After defeating Bayside Academy 23-0 in the first game of the tournament, the Lady Tigers fell by a score of 8-5 to No. 3 seed Choctaw County in the championship game to advance to Gulf Shores for the regionals as the area runner-up.
The split in the tournament improved T.R. Miller to 20-7 overall.
T.R. Miller was the No. 1 seed in the tournament and Choctaw County defeated No. 2 seed Cottage Hill 4-3 in their first game to advance to the championship game against the Lady Tigers.
While the loss was hard to swallow, White said there is a lot of softball left to be played for his team.
Game one: T.R. Miller 23, Bayside Academy 0
Leading 6-0 after the first inning and 11-0 after the second inning, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers exploded for 12 runs in the third inning to defeat Bayside 23-0 in the first game of the class 3A area 1 tournament.
Lady Tiger pitching duo of starting pitcher Miranda Anderson and reliever Brandi Kennedy combined for a four inning perfect game in the big win for T.R. Miller.
Anderson went the first three innings allowing no runs, no hits and striking out five while Kennedy went one inning and struck out one.
Of the 12 batters faced, six batters were struck out and six balls were put in play.
Bayside committed seven errors in the loss as the Lady Tigers had 18 hits.
Sarah Lee led the Lady Tigers at the plate with a 4-for-4 day with four RBIs, three singles and an inside-the-park homerun.
Taylor Guthrie was 3-for-3 with three RBIs, a single, double and a inside-the-park homerun and Emily Waters was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Natalie Neal was 2-for-3 with two RBIs including a homerun and an inside-the-park homerun.
Janel McCorvey, Teralyn Moore and Leigh Margaret Bostic were all 1-for-3 with Bostic and Moore having an RBI each.
Leah Brundidge was 1-for-4 and Amber Nelson, Gi Gi Bailey and Katie Baggett were 1-for-1 with and RBI each.
Game two (championship game): Choctaw County 8, T.R. Miller 5
Six errors and only six hits led to an 8-5 loss in the championship game of the area tournament as the Lady Tigers fell to 20-7 overall with the three-run loss to Choctaw County.
The loss gave Choctaw County the area championship and T.R. Miller claimed the runner-up spot.
Choctaw County led the game off with a bunt, but throwing errors allowed the runner to get to third base with no outs.
After a short break due to the rain and weather, the game was resumed and Choctaw County scored three runs in the first inning to lead the Lady Tigers early 3-0.
T.R. Miller cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on an two-run single by Emily Waters to score Natalie Neal and Taylor Guthrie who reach on a walk and fielder’s choice respectively.
T.R. Miller allowed no runs in the top of the second inning and scored a run of their own to tie the game at 3-3 after two innings.
With the game tied at 3-3, a lead-off single lead to a 4-3 lead for the visiting Tigers from Butler, but a nice play from Janel McCorvey in centerfield to third baseman Leah Brundidge stopped the scoring threat as T.R. Miller trailed 4-3 after three innings of play.
In the top of the fourth inning, a walk, a hit batter and two singles led to a three-run inning for Choctaw County as they held a 7-3 lead after four innings of play.
In the fifth, T.R. Miller scored two runs to cut the lead to 7-5.
T.R. Miller had their chance to tie the game and possibly take the lead in the sixth inning as they had runners at second and third, but failed to score.
Choctaw then added a run in the top of the seventh inning to claim an 8-5 lead and held T.R. Miller scoreless with a runner on second base to get the three-run win.
Anderson took the loss on the mound for the Lady Tigers.
Anderson allowed eight runs (not all earned) on eight hits, three walks, four strikeouts and hit one batter.
Waters led the Lady Tigers with a 1-for-4 day and two RBIs. Leah Brundidge was 2-for-4 and Brandi Kennedy was 1-for-2.
Neal was 1-for-3 and Guthrie was 1-for-4 in the loss for T.R. Miller.
With the runner-up slot in the area, T.R. Miller advanced to the regional tournament in Gulf Shores on Friday.
In game one, the Lady Tigers lost to Headland 4-1 to fall to 20-8 overall and in game two lost to Wicksburg in extra innings by a score of 20-9.
The loss to Wicksburg ended the season for the Lady Tigers with a three-game losing streak.
Although the season ended with the losses, this most the most wins in school history for the T.R. Miller softball team with 20 wins breaking the 2004 and 2006 record of 19 wins in one season.
The 2004 team advanced to the state tournament in Montgomery.
See Wednesday’s paper for game stats of the Wicksburg game and thoughts and quotes from the season and game.
Regional tournament game one: Headland 4, T.R. Miller 1
One bad inning. That was the case for the Lady Tigers in the first game of the regional tournament against Headland.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, T.R. Miller was held scoreless the rest of the game and gave up four runs in the second inning as they lost to Headland 4-1 in the first game on Friday in Gulf Shores.
T.R. Miller gave up four runs on four hits in the inning and committed two errors as they lost by three runs to fall to 20-8 overall.
T.R. Miller had four hits in the game and struck out 12 times and made three errors.
T.R. Miller grabbed the early lead in the game and their lone run in the game in the first inning when Leah Brundidge singles to score Janel McCorvey who reached on an error.
McCorvey advanced to second after a walk to Natalie Neal and reached third on a sacrifice fly out by Taylor Guthrie.
The Lady Tigers had their chance to score in the fourth inning after falling behind 4-1 in the bottom of the second as they placed runners on first and second but failed to score.
Guthrie was 2-for-3 with a triple and a single in the loss and Brundidge was 1-for-3 with the lone RBI.
Emily Waters was 1-for-3 in the loss.
Miranda Anderson took the loss on the mound for T.R. Miller going six innings and allowing two earned runs on eight hits, and struck out three.
Anderson allowed one hit in the first inning and after the four-run second inning, only allowed three hits the remaining game.