The playoffs came early Monday night in Wagener.
Sure, the postseason doesn’t start until next week, but the Aiken County Class A rivalry softball clash between Wagener-Salley and Ridge Spring-Monetta had all the makings of a playoff thriller - with the atmosphere to match.
And with all of those playoff vibes came the ultimate lesson that applies once the postseason begins.
It doesn’t matter what it looks like or how it happened, all that matters is picking up the win.
Neither side could be too thrilled about some unusual pitching performances, too many errors in the field and some unexpectedly cold bats, but each team fought and clawed back and forth for 10 innings and nearly four hours of softball. Wagener-Salley had squandered opportunities to end the game sooner, then overcame a three-run deficit in extra innings for a 10-9 win to lock up another Region 3-A title on Senior Night.
“The thing I’m most proud about with these girls is they never give up,” said Wagener-Salley head coach Jennifer Starnes. “They never gave up, and when it was time to produce they did. They came in in the ninth inning with a three-run deficit, and they all had the most defeated look on their face. But I was like, ‘You can do this. Put it in your head, and let’s do it.’ And they did. I’m just excited about that. Definitely not our best night, but I’m excited they kept fighting.”
The War Eagles came to the plate in the bottom of the 10th with Samya Daniels starting the inning on second base due to the international tie breaker. She moved to third when Gracie Starnes led off the inning with a bunt single, then raced home for the winning run by Kylee Hooker did the same in the next at-bat.
That was the capper to a marathon game that looked like it was finally on the verge of ending when RS-M plated three runs in the top of the ninth for a 9-6 lead.
Madison Wootton led off the inning with a single, scoring Miley Coffey from second. Tiffany Cuttill singled and moved to third on an error as Wootton scored, and then Cuttill came in on a sacrifice fly by Avery Watson.
Read the full Aiken Standard article here.