Down but never out is an apt description of the Kosciusko softball team.
Down a game to North Pike in the 4A championship series and facing elimination down 2-0 through three innings in Friday’s Game 2, the Lady Whippets rallied for a 13-7 victory. The decisive third game at the USM softball complex begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Kosciusko is 3-0 in elimination games, having overcome a 1-0 deficit against West Lauderdale in the North State final.
It didn’t start out well for the Lady Whippets. Meredith Bates, the third batter faced by Kosciusko pitcher Mary Kimble Price, hit a two-run homer. Price admitted she was a little nervous at the start.
“But after that I kind of settled down,” she said after the game.
The deficit did not shake the confidence of coach Tony Terry.
“I told them (his players) that I knew we were going to win the ball game. They had the belief that they would win the ball game. It’s no different than the West Lauderdale series,” he said. “It sounds crazy to keep saying it, but we really believe it.”
Kosciusko scratched out a run in the fourth, then took the lead with four in the fifth that included a tie-breaking two-run homer by Price.
She drove in four runs but was happier about her pitching.
“Because that’s what it takes to shut the other team down,” she said.
Kosciusko added three runs in the sixth that began with back-to-back triples by Kelly Hood and Campbell Blaine, and broke the game open with five in the seventh, capped off by a K.C. Schuler grand slam.
Price pitched shutout ball the second through the fifth, retiring seven straight batters at one point.
North Pike scored one in the sixth then four after two outs in the seventh on three singles and a home run by Joli Spears.
The Lady Whippets had 14 hits, including three by Schuler and two each by Makynlee Dickerson and Alexandra West.
In two games, Kosciusko has 27 hits.
First game pitcher Emmagail Kelley will start the decisive game at 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
