MacKenna, Carolina Forest softball edges Socastee in extra innings

Cheyenne MacKenna has had so many big hits all season.

The Carolina Forest sophomore added another one Wednesday.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, MacKenna’s infield single pushed the Panthers to a 4-3 victory over Socastee. It earned Carolina Forest not only a playoff berth, but what appears to be a No. 2 seed and the accompanying home playoff game next week.

“They got on base,” MacKenna said after driving in Gia Wolters, who started the inning on second base as part of the extra-inning procedure. “I just put the ball in play.”

Earlier in the night, MacKenna extended her hitting streak to 20 games. That stretch dates back to the final two games of the 2014 season.

Now batting .357 on the year, MacKenna has been every bit of the senior offensive weapon the Panthers needed her to be.

“She’s earned it,” coach Meagen Johnson said. “What she’s put into it, she’s been in the program since seventh grade. She’s just a fighter. You can just tell from her body language. She’s aggressive; she wants to attack the ball.”

MacKenna was 3-for-5 against Socastee. Her sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh also sent the game to extra innings after the Braves led up to that point – courtesy of Sierrah McCarthy’s two solo home runs.

The Panther second baseman’s ninth-inning RBI came after she drilled the hit off a Socastee infielder’s foot and Wolters jogged in for the win.

It was every bit the finish Carolina Forest needed a night after a 12-2 loss to South Florence ended its hopes of a Region VI-AAAA title. In its place, Johnson’s team appears to have locked up the No. 2 seed.

Even if the Panthers fail to finish in second place by themselves, the points tiebreaker looks to be in their favor. That didn’t seem like it would be the case two weeks ago, when four teams were tied for first.

“It did feel like forever ago,” MacKenna said. “But it worked out. … At least we didn’t lose out. We knew if we didn’t come in first, we would do our best to come in second.”

Socastee’s playoff hopes, coach Steve Hodge said, are now gone.

The Braves beat Sumter Tuesday to stay alive, only to see them dashed in the next game.

“We knew that coming in,” Hodge said. “Unfortunately, last night and tonight was probably the best softball we’ve played all year long. That’s just where we’re at.

“We played well over Spring Break. We played well after that.”

It just wasn’t enough to dig the Braves out of the their early hole in the region standings.

Carolina Forest, meanwhile, did what it needed to do to minimize the damage from its loss against South Florence.

“It puts us in a good spot for playoffs,” Johnson said. “At the same time, it’s a momentum builder for Friday night but into next week.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "MacKenna, Carolina Forest softball edges Socastee in extra innings."