Russellville falls just short of area title, finishes runner-up behind Lawrence County

The Russellville High School varsity softball team came up just short in its fight for the Class 5A Area 16 Tournament crown on Friday and Saturday.

After beating Ardmore and Lawrence County on Friday, the Lady Golden Tigers returned on Saturday to battle the Red Devils, falling 4-3 and 12-11 to finish as area runner-up.

“You want to win your area for bragging rights and other stuff, but the girls were already able to accomplish on Friday qualifying for regionals, and that’s really what’s most important—being able to continue playing,” Russellville head coach Rick Lawson said. “The girls wanted to finish it off on Saturday, but the problem with playing someone like Lawrence County is when they get hot they hit the ball extremely well and they were doing that.”

Senior pitcher Jacey Moore put on a pitching clinic against Ardmore in Friday’s first contest. Moore went all the way through seven innings, allowing just one run off five hits. She struck out 13 batters.

“Jacey has had a lot of success against Ardmore this season in our previous two meetings,” Lawson said. “We went with her because of the success she’s had against them…and she gave us a great shot to win.”

Offensively, the Lady Golden Tigers left it late. Going down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Russellville had just three outs left to salvage a positive result. A leadoff double by Addison Holcomb got Russellville started, but Russellville quickly ran into two outs. That left it up to Jacey Moore, who gave the Lady Golden Tigers the lead with one swing, knocking the 1-1 pitch over the left field wall. 

“Jacey really struggled with the bat in the first half of the year, but she’s been on fire here lately…and really barreling the ball up,” Lawson said. “With two outs she fouled one off and then she hits a missile down the third base line and it leaves the ballpark. It really was a no-doubter.”

Jemma Moore followed it up a couple at-bats later, bringing in Emma Campbell with a double to make it 3-1, Russellville.

Lawson said the Lady Golden Tigers’ fight to come back and win the game in their final at-bat is indicative of the perseverance the team has shown all season.

“In that particular instance there, that’s the way this team has responded all year long. They don’t quit,” he said. “They are resilient and they fight and fight because they truly believe they can win. They have really matured this year with their attitude towards the game and always give themselves a chance to win. We always feel like we’ve got a shot at the end.”

The Lady Golden Tigers then faced Lawrence County in the first of what would turn into a three-game set against the Red Devils.

A Jacey Moore RBI single got the scoring started in the top of the second before back-to-back RBI singles by Holcomb and Brooklyn Butler and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0. From there, Russellville managed to hold on. Lawrence County cut Russellville’s lead in half in the bottom of the third and then added a solo run in the sixth to make it 4-3.

Jacey Moore, who came in in relief of starting pitcher Paislee James, went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh to collect the save.

“We decided to pitch Paislee James because Paislee had great success against Lawrence County last year. It was a nice change of speed, and we thought we’d be able to get past Lawrence County by changing the speed up. Paislee spins the ball really, really well,” Lawson said. “We kept them off balance for the first two or three times through their lineup, and then we brought Jacey back in to change the speed up on them again and give them a different look. We did that and I think we had good success.”

The next day saw a reversal of fortunes for the Lady Golden Tigers. The Red Devils flipped the script on Russellville in the first game on Saturday—same score, different winner. Lawrence County opened the scoring in the first with a solo run before Russellville tied it up on a Jemma Moore groundout to score Jacey Moore.

The Red Devils went up 4-1 in the top of the sixth, but Russellville had opportunities to pull ahead. Campbell’s two-run single in the bottom of the sixth shrunk the deficit to one run, and in the seventh the Lady Golden Tigers had the bases loaded with one out but couldn’t scratch anyone across.

“It was a back-and-forth affair in that game,” Lawson said. “It was a strange ending to the ball game because we had the bases loaded and Emma Campbell up to bat. She takes a great cut at the ball, but she just pops it and it lands right in front of home plate. It hit the ground and died and the catcher was able to pick it up and step on home plate. It was a strange play that worked out for Lawrence County.”

With Russellville and Lawrence County splitting the results, the winner of the area tournament would be determined by one final game. It would turn out to be a high-scoring one, and once again, the Lady Golden Tigers would come up just shy.

The Red Devils jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first and increased it to 8-1 before, in a single inning, the Lady Golden Tigers erased the deficit. In a massive eight-run fourth inning, highlighted by a Holcomb leadoff home run, Russellville pulled ahead 9-8.

“They put five across in the first, and we thought we were going to battle back, but they kept adding to it and next thing you know it’s 8-1,” Lawson said. “And then our bats catch fire, their pitching starts struggling a little bit, and we ended up putting eight runs on the board to take the lead. After that it was just a nip-and-tuck ballgame.”

Unfortunately for the Lady Golden Tigers, the Red Devils responded soon after, scoring four more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 12-9.

“Lawrence County hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off Jacey, which is one of those crazy things that happens,” Lawson said. “It’s just the way the game works sometimes.”

A two-run single by Butler in the bottom of the sixth pulled Russellville back to within one, 12-11, but in the end the Lady Golden Tigers didn’t have enough to complete the comeback. Lawrence County claimed the prize of area tournament champion and Russellville was forced to settle for runner-up.

Though Russellville would’ve preferred the area title, Lawson said taking the second spot and advancing to the regional tournament checks off one of the boxes on Russellville’s list of goals this season.

“It was a goal that they set themselves back in January that they wanted to make it to the regionals and have a chance of making it to the state tournament. They’ve worked their tails off to get to this point,” Lawson said. “The senior leadership has been outstanding in order to make sure they achieved that goal.”

“They’ll tell you right now it’s still unfinished business. We’ve still got to go out and compete, and we’ve got a tough road ahead because we have a very good Springville team that we’ll be playing against next Tuesday,” he added. “I’m extremely proud of this team and how they’ve responded. When you get a new coach coming in and changing some things around, it can be very difficult on the players, but these girls have done a tremendous job. They’ve bought into the system, and they believe in themselves and in their teammates.”