Lady Canes Come Up Short in Super-Regional
The Monticello Hurricane softball program advanced to the final round of the Dade County Super-Regional last Thursday in the GHSA Class-A State playoffs.
The winner, Dade County, advanced to Columbus to battle in the Elite Eight, meaning that the Hurricanes finished within the top 16 teams in Class-A softball.
The regional game began with host Dade County, the #1 seed from Region 7, battling Saint Francis, the #4 seed from Region 6. Dade County came out on top 6-1, moving into the winner’s bracket, while St. Francis fell into the loser’s bracket to await the outcome of the Monticello/Commerce matchup.
In the Commerce game, the Lady Canes fell behind by a 5-1 margin, and the score stayed this way until the sixth. They scored three runs in the top half of the inning, bringing them within a 5-4 margin, and in the seventh they were able to take a lead at 6-5 after trailing all game.
The Tigers, however, managed to fight back. They were able to plate single runs in the seventh to knot the score, and in the first extra frame for the victory.
This set up a matchup between Commerce and Dade County in the winner’s bracket game, and an elimination game between Monticello and St. Francis. Dade defeated Commerce and moved them into the elimination bracket against the Lady Canes.
Pushing across single runs in the second, third, and fifth innings, the ladies were able to pound out 10 hits, as opposed to the six the Knights were able to manufacture. Freshman Kelsey Vining was able to go the route in the complete game win, using only 60 pitches across the seven inning contest while allowing just one earned run. Her control was impeccable as well, as she did not walk a batter. Hailey Roper, Kyla King, and Kylee Schell led the way with two hits apiece, with Mackenzie Diaz adding a double and King a triple to the equation.
This win set up a rematch with Commerce in the first game Thursday morning, and the Lady Canes responded in the back and fourth game, eventually pulling away in the contest with a 7-5 victory to move on to face Dade County. Dade had not suffered a loss yet in the regional, meaning the Lady Canes would have to knock them off twice to advance to Columbus.
In the Commerce game, the Lady Canes went up quick in the first, with Diaz slamming a home run to dead center with one out in the top of the first. This set the tone for the game, and the Lady Tigers came back and scored two in the bottom half to take a lead and set the stage for another barnburner between the two teams.
After a scoreless second inning, the Lady Canes took the lead again in the third, Hailey Roper leading off with a double to left, followed by Diaz driving her in on a ground ball single, mixed in with a throwing error by the second baseman. Vining came up and laced a double down the left field line, which drove Diaz in all the way from first.
Commerce came back again in the back-and-forth game to knot the score at three-all in the bottom half using two singles and a double worked around two outs for the score.
The Lady Canes were able to take the lead for good and never look back in the fourth, plating two runs thanks to aggressive base-running and timely hitting. Diaz drove in another run on a hard ground ball single up the middle after Rosine and Roper pulled off a double steal to score Rosine.
They added their final two runs in the sixth, Roper leading off the inning with a bunt single, followed by a single by Diaz to put runners at first and second. Vining then drove in Roper with a double, and Haven Cannon singled on a line drive to score Diaz for the seventh and final run.
The Lady Canes sweated it out ‘til the third out was made in the bottom half of the seventh, remembering what had happened just 24 hours earlier to this same Commerce team. A leadoff triple came home to score and make the score 7-4. With runners on first and third, Schell coaxed a fly-out to Roper in deep centerfield to seal the game, giving the Hurricanes the win, and eliminating the Lady Tigers.
The next game on the agenda was Dade County. The Lady Canes struggled with opportunities in this game, getting runners on base courtesy of nine hits, but being unable to capitalize when presented with the chance, leaving nine runners on base in the contest. They were able to keep it close throughout the contest, with a Schell triple driving in Cannon to knot the score at one in the fourth inning.
It was a 3-1 Dade lead until the bottom half of the sixth inning, when they were able to open it up and score four more runs. Senior Diaz was able to drive in Hailey Roper in the top of the seventh for the final run of the season and give the Canes hope, but it was too little, too late.
The Lady Canes finished the season with a 14-14 record, a nine game improvement over the 2022 season, and their first playoff victories in the new format instituted last year by the GHSA.