It was a region tournament classic that went 11 innings, with a combined 43 hits and 30 runs scored in Tuesday’s semi-final between the Lady Marshals and Paducah Tilghman and in the end, it was the Lady Tornados that came out on top in the back-and-forth battle and will move on to their program’s first-ever championship game with the 16-14 win.
It was the Lady Marshals seniors leading the way once again in their 18 hits. Charley Pursley was 3-for-7 with a double, triple and plated four runs. Tia Thorpe was 4-for-6 with two home runs and five RBI’s.
Paducah Tilghman’s Anistyn Thomas and Audreya White each finished with five hits to lead in their teams 25. White hit two doubles and brought in five runs. Rosie Minter hit a double and triple and plated four runs.
Both sides utilized three pitchers in the marathon with the win going to Reagan Hartman who
pitched the final seven innings, allowing 11 hits, eight runs, struck out one and walked two.
The Lady Marshals held a 6-0 lead until the fifth inning, two runs scoring in the first inning on a single by Gracelyn Darnall and four runs in the third inning on a hit by Allicen Harris and 3-run home run by Thorpe.
Paducah Tilghman tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the fifth but in the bottom of the inning, the Lady Marshals went back up 8-6 on a 2-run single by Pursley. Not to be outdone, the Lady Tornado added two runs in bottom of the sixth to tie the game up again at 8-8.
A double by Serenity McCoy scored a run in the top of the seventh to give Paducah a 9-8 lead and possible game-winner but the Lady Marshals tied it on an RBI single by Thorpe to send the game into extra innings.
Each team put one run on the board in the eighth inning to remain tied 10-10. Paducah scored two more in the top of the ninth that the Lady Marshals matched in the bottom of the inning on Thorpe’s second home run of the night and a 1-run double by Pursley for a 12-12 tie and they headed to the 10th where it remained tied.
Paducah scored four runs in the top of the 11th on a single by Thomas, 2-run single by Minter and sacrifice hit by Cristin Ware to lead 16-12. The Lady Marshals scored two runs in the bottom of the 11th and left two stranded in the 16-14 loss.
The Lady Marshals finish the season 20-16.
Paducah Tilghman (19-15) will play McCracken County (31-2) in tonight’s championship game at Marshall County at 6:00.
Paducah 0 0 0 0 6 2 1 1 2 0 4 16 25 4
Marshall 2 0 4 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 2 14 18 4
Marshall: Pursley 3/7 (2B, 3B, 4 RBI), Vasseur 2/6, Morton 3/5, Henson 2/4 (RBI), Darnall 1/6 (2 RBI), Harris 2/6 (RBI), Thorpe 4/6 (2-HR, 5 RBI), Oakley 1/4 (RBI)
Paducah: Thomas 5/7 (2B, 2 RBI), White 5/6 (2-2B, 5 RBI), Parrish 1/6, Minter 3/7 (2B, 3B, 4 RBI), Wiley 3/7, Ware 1/6 (RBI), Hartman 2/5 (2B, 2 RBI), McCoy 3/6 (2-2B, RBI), Logsdon 2/4
(2B)
Marshall: Thorpe 3.1 (8 hits, 4 runs), Harris 3.0 (6 hits, 5 runs), Darnall 4.2 (11 hits, 7 runs)
Paducah: Heal 2.2 (6 hits, 6 runs), Bobbitt 1.1 (1 hit, 0 runs), Hartman 7.0 (11 hits, 8 runs)
