Lady Blazers bow out, Crockett fights to stay in
By CHRIS SHIELDS
Sports Writer
At the conclusion of the first round of the Big 7 softball district tournament, only one remained of the two Washington County rivals, David Crockett and Daniel Boone.
The softball postseason got underway over the weekend with the opening round beginning on May 1 in Blountville.
David Crockett entered postseason play as the number two seed following a regular season campaign where they finished with 25 wins to only 14 losses and tied for the best record in the conference with Volunteer at 9-3.
Crockett met Tennessee High in the elimination round on May 2, and it was business as usual for the Pioneers.
Jessica Leach led the Pioneer bats, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Callie Lowe plated three runs on a bases- loaded double in the first.
And Haley Grindstaff went the distance in the circle, allowing just four hits and an earned run on two Tennessee High scores.
The final tally had Crockett ending Tennessee Highs season with a score of 9-2.
Preceding Crocketts Saturday elimination contest, the Lady Blazers of Daniel Boone opened tournament play against the Lady Indians of Dobyns-Bennett.
In his first season at the helm of Daniel Boone softball, Head Coach Jeremy Jenkins guided the Blazers to an impressive 22-11 overall record, despite struggles in the conference where they finished at just 5-7.
The disappointing regular-season results in the conference could be quickly erased, however, with a strong tournament run.
But a year after capturing another conference tournament championship, the Blazers finished 2015 as ordinary, taking a 3-1 loss to the Lady Indians in Blountville on May 1, effectively ending their season.
In the other elimination-round matchup, three-seed Science Hill had little difficulty advancing past six-seed Sullivan Central 4-0, setting up a contest in the double-elimination round against the Lady Pioneers on May 4.
Science Hill used a two-run first inning to take an early advantage over Crockett and despite threatening later, the Pioneers couldnt push any runs across the plate as Science Hill captured the 4-0 win.
In the early contest, Dobyns-Bennett outlasted top seed Volunteer 2-1 setting Crockett up with an elimination game against the Big 7s best team later in the week.