As Yogi Berra might say, it was deja vu all over again when Kosciusko swept two games from West Lauderdale to win the Region 4-4A championship. The Lady Whippets won a pitchers' duel 2-0 and a shootout 10-9.
That's eight straight for Kosciusko in the rivalry and most of the games were nail biters. The streak began two years ago when Kosciusko rebounded from a 1-0 loss in the opening game of the North State final with two wins on its way to the 4A state championship. Last year, the Whippet won both regular season games and swept the North State final, once again winning the state championship.
The 2-0 win was the result of strong pitching by Anna Grace Whitehead, who retired 21 of 22 batters, and great defense behind her. She had four strikeouts, and the defense handled the other 17 outs without an error. Graycee Rosamond at third, Laura Beth Wood in left, Campbell Blaine in center and Alexandra West in right sparkled defensively.
Breelyn Cain matched zeros with Whitehead for five innings before the Lady Whippets broke through with two runs in the sixth. Whitehead started the rally with a leadoff single. Courtesy runner Kelby Burrell took third on a single by Gracie Williams and scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Gracie Burrell. Williams scored on a grounder by Rosamond.
West Lauderdale's only base runner came on a triple by Caroline Walker in the third. Whitehead fanned Courtney Lewis to end the frame, then set the Lady Knights down in order over the final four innings.
The second game at Kosciusko was a completely different story. The Lady Whippets appeared headed for an easy victory, up 8-2 after five innings. But West Lauderdale scored four runs in the sixth to make it 8-6, and after Kosciusko scored once in the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Knights scored three more runs in the seventh to tie the game 9-9.
Kosciusko scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh without a hit on two hit batters a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball that allowed Wood to score.
Reagan Brady had a big game for West Lauderdale with two doubles, a single and three RBIs.
“You have one game when both teams are struggling to score, and another game that’s wild. You can’t explain it,” said Kosciusko coach Tony Terry. “That makes the rivalry what it is when you cannot predict what type of game it’s going to be.”
In addition to the region championship, Kosciusko earned an opening round bye in the 4A payoffs. The Lady Whippets are scheduled to begin their title defense at home April 28 against the winner of a best of three series between the second place team in 2-4A and third place in 3-4A. The second game will be on the road and if a third game is necessary, back at Kosciusko.
West Lauderdale begins play Friday against 1-4A third place. The Lady Knights will need to win three series and the Lady Whippets two for a rematch in the North State final.
Kosciusko completed the regular season Tuesday with a doubleheader against Nanih Waiya. Then the Lady Whippets will have nine days off.
“We will continue to work on everything,” Terry said.
