Playing for the Region 6-AAA title on Wednesday night, the Summit High School softball team wasn’t able to capitalize on its homefield advantage. Now, the Lady Spartans no longer have one. After suffering a 2-1 loss to Dickson County in the championship, the Lady Spartans will have to hit the road on Friday, traveling to Springfield for a “winner-goes-to-state” Class AAA sectional contest against the Region 5-AAA champs, who upset favored Clarksville. Dickson County, meanwhile, will get to play in front of its home fans on Friday, hosting the Clarksville girls. Springfield up-ended Clarksville, 10-3, in Wednesday’s 5-AAA title game. The Summit players, along with head coach Jenny Stevenson, said they were disappointed about the loss — and about missing out on the opportunity to host a sectional — but said they won’t allow the frustration to linger. “I think we can put this behind us pretty quickly,” said Summit pitcher Elena Escobar, the Gateway Tire Female Player of the Week. “I don’t think traveling is really going to make that much of a difference for us. In fact, I think today’s loss is just going to make us want to win on Friday even more.” Summit leadoff hitter Abby O’Reilly agreed. “It’s a mental challenge to go on the road,” said the senior left fielder. “But it’s a new setting, and it will be fun. We’ve been saying all season, ‘Let’s just get to sub-state, win that game, and then we can focus on the state tournament.” Stevenson said her players will embrace the challenge of going on the road in search of the program’s first-ever berth at state. “It’s part of the fun,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to get on the bus, go have a pre-game meal, and maybe get out of school early that day. So, it’s like getting to go to a travel tournament. It’s fun, it’s exciting. We love playing at home, of course, but it’s more of an adventure when you get on the bus and go somewhere with 20 girls.” This will be Summit’s third trip to sectionals in the past four years. The Lady Spartans lost to Springfield in 2019 and fell to Henry County in 2020. (There was no tournament last spring, when the season was canceled due to the pandemic). O’Reilly said the Lady Spartans have been preparing for this moment all season and said Wednesday’s loss won’t deflate their confidence. “Tonight’s game was important, obviously, but it’s not as important as the game on Friday because that’s the one that can get us to state,” she said. “I think we will recover perfectly fine. We’re definitely going to bounce back.” Dickson County pitcher Ashlan Sensing went the distance in Wednesday’s win, limiting the Lady Spartans to four hits and finishing with seven strikeouts. Kate Peters drove in the decisive run with a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning that put DC in front, 2-1. The game represented the fifth matchup of the season between the two teams, with four of the games being decided by one run. Dickson County won the first meeting on March 23, but Summit won the next three matchups, including posting two wins over Dickson County in last week’s District 11-AAA tournament. The Lady Spartans beat Dickson County, 3-2, last Friday night in the league championship game. “The two teams are just very evenly matched,” said Stevenson. “Today, they had a couple of timely hits that made the difference. We had a couple of balls that looked they were going to fall, but didn’t.” The most notable “near-miss” for the Lady Spartans came in the bottom of the sixth, when Dixie Corbin sent a booming drive to left field that appeared destined to leave the yard — or, at the very least, clang off the fence for a game-tying RBI double. But Dickson County left fielder Lillie Procter made a game-changing play by tracking down the fly ball with a fantastic running catch near the 200-foot sign on the left-field fence to end the inning and deny Corbin of potentially delivering her second game-winning hit against Dickson County this season. “Oh yeah, I thought it was gone,” said Escobar. “But (Dickson County’s outfielders) were playing deep because she had that home run to win the game against them during the regular season.” Lily Kate Richards and Escobar combined on a four-hitter in the circle for Summit. Richards worked the opening 4 1/3 innings, and was charged with two runs on two hits with two strikeouts. Escobar pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, surrendering two hits and a walk. Emma Beach led Summit’s offense, going 2-for-3 with a pair of opposite-field singles. The Lady Spartans did not have an extra-base hit in the loss. Dickson County took a 1-0 lead when Sensing connected for an RBI double in the third inning. On the play, Sensing sent a drive that split the gap in right center field, and one run scored easily. Another runner attempted to score but was thrown out at the plate when Summit centerfielder Ashlyn Easley gunned a throw to second baseman Claudette Runk, who made a perfect relay throw to catcher Hannah Sundberg for the out. Summit tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Easley led off with a single, and eventually came around to score when Runk reached base on a two-out error. But Dickson County moved back in front, 2-1, on Peters’ RBI single in the fifth, and held on from there. “We will learn from this and pick up the pieces and move forward,” said Stevenson. “I told the girls after the game, the good news is, we’re not done. We get to practice tomorrow and regroup. I think we will come out confident and ready to play on Friday. Summit needed just three innings to dispatch Hillsboro 16-0 in the Region 6-AAA semifinals on Monday to advance to the region title game. 

Dickson County 2, Summit 1, Region 6-AAA Championship 

DCHS 001 010 0 — 2 4 3

SHS 000 100 0 — 1 4 1

WP – Sensing. LP – Richards. 

DCHS – Hunt 0-3 (walk; run), Petty 1-2 (run), Ellis 0-3, Peters 1-2 (RBI), Sensing 1-3, Shelton 0-2, Greene 0-1, Wilson 0-2, Russell 1-3.

SHS – O’Rielly 0-3, Woodside 0-3, Easley 1-3 (run), Sundberg 0-3, Mathis 1-2, Corbin 0-2, Runk 0-3, Montgomery 0-2, Scott 0-1, Beach 2-3.

2B – Sensing. 

Source:  Williamson Herald