David Crockett bows out of state tournament after falling to Alcoa

MURFREESBORO — For David Crockett softball, when it rained, it poured, figuratively and literally on Wednesday. In an elimination contest affected by a lengthy weather delay, the Lady Pioneers fell to Alcoa 14-2. "While we feel like being here is a consolation prize, we're leaving with a sour taste in our mouth, it makes us want to be back here," Lady Pioneers head coach Alex Dulaney said. "Personally, I've learned a lot over the past couple of days. And our team has learned a lot." Alcoa (40-3) struck first in the top of the first inning. A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out before Tori Hahn hit an RBI groundout back to the circle, giving the Lady Tornadoes a 1-0 lead. Lily Mango escaped further damage, though, inducing a pop out to end the first. David Crockett (31-16) answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Lacey Whitaker roped a double to left field to plate Madelyn Dulaney. The Lady Pioneers looked to add on, putting runners on first and third with one out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the threat. The Lady Tornadoes threatened to retake the lead in the second, loading the bases with two outs. However, Mango got a strikeout to end the inning. The defending 2A state champions kept the pressure up, and broke through in the third and fourth innings. In the third, Hahn's RBI single and Kalea Osborne's sacrifice fly made it a 3-1 contest. Alcoa continued to add on in the fourth, striking for four runs in the top of the stanza. The big blow came off the bat of Hahn, who hit a two-run double to right. Just two pitches into the bottom of the fourth, the game was suspended due to lightning that turned into storms. The delay lasted almost 4-and-a-half hours before the contest could be resumed. Out of the break, Crockett threatened on the basepaths. The Lady Pioneers loaded the bases with two outs. However, they couldn't cash in. From there it was all Alcoa, scoring two in the fifth and five in the sixth to go up by 13. David Crockett showed some life until the end, scoring a run on a base hit by Madelyn Dulaney. The Lady Pioneers got a strong day at the plate from their lone senior, Lexi Hawkins. In her final game, she went 2-for-3 with a single in her final at-bat. Cloudland, Eagleville still playing The Lady Highlanders gave the defending state champions all they could handle late on Wednesday night. Cloudland got a two-run single from Reagan Turbyfill with two outs in the top of the seventh, tying the game. The contest went to extra innings, where it was in a rain delay at press time. The contest was suspended for the evening, with a restart time set of 8:30 a.m. CDT.