Smoky puts up fight,

but falls to Boone

By PAUL MEADOR

NPT Sports Editor

MORRISTOWN-The Smoky Mountain All-Stars 11U girl's softball squad had an opportunity for some revenge, and a trip to the championship game in their loser's bracket final Wednesday night in Morristown.

In their opening game of the 11U State Tournament this past Saturday night at Frank Lorino Park, Smoky was whitewashed by Daniel Boone 24-5, and it was Boone that they would have to face if they wanted to play Morristown for the state title.

Early on, the loser's bracket final appeared to be an exact duplicate of the first match-up between these two teams on Saturday night. Boone took advantage of numerous walks some timely hitting and excellent base running to put 12 runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Just as in their tournament opener on Saturday, Smoky Mountain had dug themselves a deep hole.

Smoky managed to plate a run in the bottom of the first inning, and scored two more in the bottom of the third after holding Boone scoreless in the top of the second, and allowing only a single run in the top of the third. But, Boone plated four more runs in the top of the fourth and led 17-3, just three outs away from victory due to the mercy rule, and a trip to the title game.

Suddenly, Smoky Mountain was facing their final three outs of their season. But, these girls were not going to go without a fight. The All-Stars started putting some hits together, and were running the bases with a new energy. One run was followed by another, and then another. And, before Boone realized what hit them, Jaecie Ensley finished out the inning with an inside-the-park home run to cap an eight-run inning. It was not 17-11 in favor of Boone, but the game was on.

Boone managed two more runs in the top of the fifth to make it 19-11 and kept the All-Stars scoreless in the bottom half of the inning. But, the All-Stars kept Boone scoreless in the top half of the final inning, and came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth needing eight runs to tie. They managed to plate two, but that was all they could muster as Boone came away with the exciting 19-13 victory.

As Smoky Mountain's season comes to an end, Daniel Boone will face off against Morristown tonight at Frank Lorino Park for the championship. However, Boone must defeat Morristown twice for the title after Morristown defeated Boone 8-1 Monday night in second round action. First pitch tonight is 7 p.m.