Lady Tornadoes face big challenge after falling to Seymour

By Ryan Callahan
of The Daily Times Staff

Copies of this story might be plastered all over the walls today at Alcoa High School if Lady Tornadoes softball coach Paul Talley has his way.

"I want a little bulletin-board material," Talley said.

It probably won't be needed, though, after what happened Tuesday.

Playing its District 3-AA Tournament opener after a first-round bye and a six-day layoff, second-seeded tournament host Alcoa allowed No. 3 seed Seymour to break a 2-2 tie with five runs over the final two innings for a 7-2 upset victory in the winners' bracket semifinals.

The Lady Tornadoes (17-11) now will have to win three consecutive losers' bracket games to reach the championship of the double-elimination tournament and clinch a spot in the Region 2-AA Tournament.

They will face fifth-seeded Carter today at 5 p.m., with the winner playing again at 6:30 p.m. against No. 4 seed Fulton, which lost Tuesday night to top-seeded Gibbs.

"(The players) are angry right now -- not down," Talley said after Alcoa's first loss in three meetings this year with the Lady Eagles.

"They're not yelling at each other. It's not one of those deals. They're just (ticked) off. That's good, I guess."

That might be the only good news for Alcoa coming out of its fourth home loss of the season.

Seymour, which was outscored 9-1 in a pair of regular-season losses to the Lady Tornadoes, teed off on Alcoa sophomore pitcher Nicole Tidwell (16-10) for seven runs -- five earned -- on 11 hits with four walks and two hit batters.

"I think I was really off," Tidwell said. "I had a lot more walks than I usually do."

The Lady Tornadoes, meanwhile, were a combined 2-for-19 at the plate aside from senior catcher Kaylee Garrett and senior third baseman Arika McDonald, who each went 2-for-4 and had a hand in both of the Lady Tornadoes' runs.

"I was thinking we were going to beat them," said Seymour center fielder Courtney Ervin, who went 4-for-5 with double and a pair of RBI singles.

"I had a feeling that we were. I just knew we had to get it together, stay focused and play as a team."

The Lady Eagles, who left two runners in scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings, took the lead for good in the sixth on Ervin's two-out RBI single, which glanced off the glove of Alcoa shortstop Emily Williams as she tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch.

Seymour added four insurance runs in the seventh with five hits off Tidwell.

"(Tidwell) probably didn't throw much during the layoff -- not as much as she needed to," Talley said. "And (Seymour has) seen her some. You see somebody a couple times and get the timing down, and Nicole is not a pitcher that's going to throw it by people.

"She's a junk pitcher, and her junk wasn't there (Tuesday)."

Alcoa took its first and only lead in the bottom of the first. Cayla Cannon, who was pinch-running for Garrett, scored on a two-out RBI double by McDonald that bounced off the center-field fence.

Cannon then erased Seymour's 2-1 lead in the third after Garrett's leadoff double, scoring on a one-out sacrifice bunt by Emily Walker.

Seymour right-hander Chaney Graham overcame early control issues to earn the complete-game win, allowing six hits and issuing three walks while striking out only two.

"We started swinging at stuff that wasn't quite over the zone instead of waiting on something to hit," Talley said. "(Graham) was in trouble early, and I think we could have maybe taken advantage of it if we would have been a little more patient."

The Lady Eagles will have today off before taking on Gibbs in the winners' bracket finals Thursday at 5 p.m.

Alcoa, meanwhile, has plenty of work to do if it plans to avoid having its season end in the district tournament for the second consecutive year.

"We'll be ready to go (today)," Talley said. "If they're not, I'd be really disappointed. They're kind of angry right now. Hopefully that carries over."