Savannah Simpson makes a diving catch in the outfield. | Roger Lee
SUMMERVILLE – Senior Audrey Pope’s walk-off single sent Sarah Barnhill across the plate in the 10th inning to give the Green Wave a 6-5 victory over Blythewood in the Class AAAAA Softball playoffs.
Summerville (21-6) hosted the Bengals April 28 for the second playoff game for both teams. The victory gives the Green Wave home-field advantage in the Division 6 championship series scheduled for May 2. Summerville will host either Blythewood, West Florence or River Bluff, whichever prevails in the loser’s bracket. The Green Wave will only need to win one game in the series in order to advance to the Lower State round.
Blythewood led Summerville through the first 6.5 innings, but the Green Wave made the plays it had to afterwards.
Summerville trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the sixth. Catcher Mikayla Goodwin opened the bottom of the frame with a double, moved to third on a single by Barnhill and scored off a sacrifice fly by pitcher Madison Drawdy to cut Blythewood’s lead to 2.
In the top of the seventh, the Bengals added a run off a double by Savannah Simpson, a sacrifice by Emily Babbitt and a single by Sammy Hall. Blythewood went on to load the bases, which caused Summerville to bring in Haley Massenburg to pitch. She got a batter to groundout to maintain the three-run margin.
Shortstop Taylor Burroughs got things going for Summerville in the bottom of the seventh with an infield single. She moved over on an error and scored on a double by Goodwin. After a popup, Drawdy drove in two runs with a hit for a 4-4 score.
Blythewood went up 5-4 in the ninth when Hall drove in Simpson. Kendall Parker then sent a pitch nearly to the left-field fence, where Summerville outfielder Hailey Hill stretched out to make a catch for the second out. Two batters later, Massenburg struck out a batter for the third out.
In the bottom of the ninth, Burroughs reached on a bunt to put the tying run at third. Goodwin then tied the game with an RBI single.
The tie held through the top of the 10th to set up Pope’s game-winning line drive.
Blythewood put the pressure on Summerville early. During the Bengals’ first turn at bat, Simpson and Babbitt had hits and then scored on a fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly as Parker and Kailey Shannon each earned an RBI.
Blythewood’s other run came when Callie Baucom doubled during the sixth and scored on a Summerville error.
Blythewood looks to recover from the weekend loss tonight in their Round 3 matchup at River Bluff. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Roger Lee, Journal Scene, rlee@journalscene.com