Aynor outlasted by Andrew Jackson in Game 1 of state softball finals

Both coaches felt mounting pressure from missed opportunities early.

Both coaches tried to do some things maybe they haven’t at other points of their respective top-notch seasons.

Only one could say it paid off.

Aynor fell 4-3 in 12 innings to Andrew Jackson in the opening game of the best-of-three Class AA state softball finals. And the only blame the Blue Jackets had was not capitalizing on 15 runners reaching base, only to be left stranded or thrown out at the plate.

“We left too many runners on base, way too many,” Aynor coach Sandie Jones said. “We couldn’t string those hits together. We had key hitters who weren’t executing. … A lot of key plays from both teams could have been big momentum changers.”

In the end, Andrew Jackson struck the ultimate biggest blow when Kinsley Adams, on second base to start the bottom of the 12th inning due to the tiebreaker rule, scored on a hard-hit infield single by teammate Savannah Small.

It ended a frantic final few innings, one in which Adams twice forced another inning with an RBI and Aynor continued to struggle getting runners across.

In reality, it was something that forced both coaches’ hands.

Volunteers coach Steve Middleton, coaching his final game at home after an illustrious 19-year career at the school, said his team was also lacking too many timely hits when it needed it most.

“When you’re not getting runs, you’re going to try anything you can,” Middleton said. “I’ll be honest, when I sent that girl [in the 12th inning], we haven’t sent anybody like that all year. I kind of felt pressure. Gosh, we may not get another chance.”

The Volunteers didn’t need another one. Adams’ run ended the game.

The three-hour contest had all the drama one might expect from a state finals series opener. Aynor scored in the second inning on Layna Johnson’s RBI double to go up 1-0. From there, a series of stout defensive plays, including outfielders from both teams nailing runners at home, kept the score there until the bottom of the seventh.

Adams’ RBI double off the glove sent it to extra innings. The trend from the first seven continued, though. Aynor left another on base in the eighth, only to get another 1-2-3 effort from pitcher Brooke Elliott in the bottom of the frame. Morgan Richardson’s sacrifice fly made it 3-2 in the ninth, only to see Adams’ second game-tying RBI send it to the 10th.

There, both teams scored, but the Blue Jackets kept it going with an inning-ending double play. Both offenses were silent in the 11th, and Aynor had a runner thrown out at the plate as part of a double play in the 12th.

It opened the door again for Andrew Jackson to end it, something it did four batters into the bottom of the 12th.

“I guess we kept thinking the whole entire time we were going to be able to come back and those runners we were leaving on would eventually score,” senior catcher Hannah Seaver said. “We didn’t get the hits in the right time. We made some decisions that didn’t really work out. We risked a lot.

“Part of us, we weren’t really prepared for such a good team. We came in here thinking it would be a lot easier. When you get this far into the competition, everybody’s going to be good.”

The series will head to Aynor for a 6 p.m. game Wednesday. The Volunteers, who won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007, clinch the championship with a victory.

The Blue Jackets, whose only state title came in 1990 as a member of Class A, need a win to push it to a third game (Friday at South Florence). Jones said she’d use the bus ride home Monday and Tuesday’s light practice to reiterate what got the team back to biggest series of the season.

“You try to stay as positive as you can,” she said. “At this point in play, there’s no place for negativity. We’ve got to have that conversation. Everyone’s uptight and tense. They want to win. This is a big game. We’re just a little tense. We’ve just got to breathe.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Aynor outlasted by Andrew Jackson in Game 1 of state softball finals."