PURVIS – When it comes to who Purvis coach David Entrekin wants to see in the batter’s box with the game on the line, Gracey Baucom is at the top of that list.
“There’s no doubt,” he said.
The Purvis Lady Tornadoes had to win two games Tuesday to advance to the third round of the 4A fast pitch playoffs. Baucom had an all-around performance to win the first game of the day, and she put the ball in play with the game-winning run at third base in the nightcap. Her weak ground ball to first base was enough, and Purvis won Game 3 of the best-of-three series 5-4 over Bay High.
“We had it set up the way we wanted,” Entrekin said. “We had the top of our order, the strongest part of our lineup, coming up. To have Gracey up there with runners on, I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”
The Lady Tornadoes dropped Game 1 to Bay High Monday night, so Purvis needed two wins Tuesday to get a berth to the third round of the second consecutive year. After a 10-2 win in Game 2, Bay High and Purvis played a tight contest to close out the night.
With two outs and Lilly Curtis at third base, Baucom made contact with a pitch after a long battle with Bay High’s Lizzie Weems. A routine ground ball turned into a bobble by the Bay High first baseman, and it was enough time for Baucom to reach first safely and for Curtis to score the series-clinching run.
“I was almost trying to put voodoo on the ball,” Entrekin said. “(The ball) bounced our way. I’m glad Gracey had a quality at-bat and put the ball in play to give us a chance.”
The Purvis offense was shut down for most of Game 3. Other than a three-run inning in the third, it was only able to scratch across a lone run in the fifth. Weems struck out nine Purvis batters while giving up five runs on seven hits.
“They have two pitchers who really throw the ball with good velocity, and we had a hard time catching up to the fastball,” Entrekin said. “We kind of made the most of runners getting on, and we just caught the breaks. This series, they could have won this thing as easily as we had.”
Purvis’ Sarah Ballard allowed six hits and four runs while stranding nine Lady Tigers on base in Game 3. She pitched around some trouble early in the game, leaving two base runners on in the second inning and she got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third.
In the first game of the day, there was a direct correlation between Elise Jackson getting on base and Purvis scoring runs. Jackson had plate appearances in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings, and not-so-coincidentally, the Lady Tornadoes got all of their runs in those four frames.
Jackson singled twice, tripled and walked in the Game 2 win, and she scored all four times. Ballard and Baucom benefitted from Jackson reaching base, too, as the three- and four-hole hitters took turns plating the speedy Jackson.
“Elise is just a freshman,” Entrekin said. “I knew Elise was going to be a big-time player, but really, she’s ahead of schedule. She’s just hitting the ball well.”
While pitching a gem in the circle, Baucom led the offense with four RBI from her 2-for-4 performance. Ballard added three RBI and went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.
Jackson got things going early in the first with one out. She singled to shallow center field, then stole second and third base. With Ballard at second and Jackson at third, Baucom gave Purvis a 2-0 lead off a single to right field.
With the scored 2-2 in the third inning, Jackson tripled to left field with one out. Ballard’s sac fly to left gave Purvis the slim 3-2 lead until it could extend the lead in the fifth.
Curtis led off the fifth by getting hit by a pitch, then Jackson walked to quickly put two runners on base. A single by Ballard and a groundout off the bat of Baucom gave the Lady Tornadoes a 5-2 lead. Later in the inning, Lillie Hale put down a bunt that the Bay High pitcher threw away to score two more runs. The scoring in the five-run fifth stopped after Gracie Cluff singled home Hale.
Ballard and Baucom picked up one more RBI each in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 10-2. Baucom allowed the two unearned runs in the second inning, but other than that, she scattered seven hits while striking out four.
“They’ve both been a huge part of our team in the circle and in the batter’s box, Entrekin said. “They had a big day and helped us out, for sure.
Purvis will play the winner of the Newton County-East Central series starting Friday.
