East Poinsett County runs past McCrory after dramatic seventh inning

By Kyle Sutherland | Photo courtesy of EPC

CARLISLE — On the final day of the 2A North Regional, East Poinsett County took home the championship trophy with an 8-3 win over McCrory to earn the top seed from the North region in the Class 2A state tournament. 

The state tournament begins on Thursday and concludes with the semifinals on Saturday at the South Side Bee Branch/Greenbrier City Complex .

On Monday in the regional final, things got a little dramatic in the seventh inning with the score tied at three.

Following back-to-back singles from Cameron Argo and Terrin Powell, Kelly Ann Lucas reached on a McCrory error. Argo was waved home by EPC head coach Brandon Powell, but Powell was called for aiding the runner resulting in a dead ball which meant Argo was out at home. With Argo out, instead of Terrin Powell and Lucas being at third and second, they were sent back to second and first.

That led to arguing from both sides - dugouts and fans - as Brandon Powell and McCrory head coach Ronnie Massanelli pled their cases to the umpire, but ultimately the dead ball out at home was the final call.

“Argo was running to third, and I was sending her,” Brandon Powell said. “The umpire said I pushed her, that I touched her when she was coming around so that was a dead ball there.”

Brandon Powell spoke with the umpire for around a minute or so, then walked back toward the dugout and began to pump his team up. They responded immediately after Keegan McCorkle hit a ground ball to the middle infield and reached on an error. Terrin Powell then scored to make it 4-3 EPC.

On the ensuing at bat with Lucas on third base and McCorkle on second, Dunman came through in the clutch once again smacking a two-run homer to bust the game wide open and extend the EPC lead to 7-3 and the Lady Warriors were able to get one more run from Mercedes Reel adding insurance on an 8-3 advantage that would end up being the final score to clinch the 2A North Regional championship.

“We ran into a situation last year in district where we felt like we got a really bad call,” Powell said. “Instead of trying to argue, I just turned around to fire the girls up and they responded. The same thing happened today. They got up, they responded, and took care of each other.”

East Poinsett County (29-2) will play West four seed Cotter in the first round of the state tournament Thursday at 3:00. North two-seed McCrory (24-3) will take on West three-seed Flippin Thursday at 5:30.

Riverside 4, Rector 1

In the third/fourth place consolation game, Rector took an early 1-0 lead at the bottom of the first inning when Madison Wolfenbarger crossed home plate from third base on a wild pitch, but it was quickly matched by Riverside in the top of the second when Annalee Qualls scored on a sacrifice by Gracie Doty.

The Lady Cougs’ offense was essentially stagnant for the rest of the afternoon going three up, three down from the third inning through the remainder of the game while the Lady Rebs’ offense took advantage of a sloppy frame by Rector’s defense in the top of the seventh to score four runs.

With the game tied at one in the top of the seventh, Womack had a leadoff double and advanced to third base moments later on a wild pitch. Doty then hit one to right field that was caught for the out, but Womack tagged third base too late and did not risk trying to make it home.

Womack got another chance on Riverside’s ensuing at bat as a throw to first base was dropped by Rector and Womack ran home to give the Lady Rebs a 2-1 lead right before they scored two more runs prior to the top half of the inning ended. That would be all Riverside would need to eventually put the game away to take the third seed out of the 2A North Regional as Womack came into close and struck out the side.

“I just told her three outs, you’re the closer, three outs,” Riverside head coach TJ Eakins said right before Womack entered the circle. “She did not tag up on the ball to right, she’s a great player, she just had a momentary lapse of judgement. Luckily we were able to get her home, she broke home, she’s fast and a great athlete. She’s been pitching really well. We felt like if we could ever get a lead she could come in and do some good things.”