Reality check: Coach says loss reminds Lady Rebels 'that we're vulnerable'

By Ryan Callahan
of The Daily Times Staff

Brittany Monday strolled slowly off the field at Sandy Springs Park and half-heartedly tossed her glove against the fence behind the Maryville softball team's bench.

The Lady Rebels' season didn't end Wednesday. It just might have felt that way to their junior pitching ace.

District 4-AAA rival Farragut pounded the previously dominant Monday for a season-high eight runs over 3 2/3 innings, building an early lead and holding on for an 8-4 victory over Maryville in the Region 2-AAA championship game.

The Lady Rebels (21-7) remain just one win away from advancing to next week's Class AAA State Tournament in Murfreesboro for the first time since 2005 and the fourth time in nine years under coach Ken Hawkins.

Now, though, they'll have to go on the road Friday for a must-win sectional game at Cherokee, a 6-0 winner over Morristown East on Wednesday in the Region 1 championship.

It's an obvious disadvantage, Hawkins said, but it's not the end of the world.

"I think the timing (of the loss) is perfect. It reminds the girls that we're vulnerable, but it also didn't eliminate us," he said.

"For pride, we would have liked to have been region champions. But if you've got to lose one, lose the sandwich game that's not the elimination game. They do well with their backs against the wall. They always have."

The Lady Rebels didn't do much well against the Lady Admirals (29-9), who won their first region title since 2004 and will play at home Friday against Morristown East after beating Maryville for the second time in five meetings this season.

Farragut took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, pouncing on Monday (15-5) for six earned runs on seven hits and building a 7-1 lead by the top of the third.

Monday, who finished with three walks and four strikeouts, hardly resembled the overpowering pitcher who allowed a total of four runs in her first three starts this season against the Lady Admirals.

"They were just hitting," Monday said. "They've seen me three (other) times this year."

Farragut scored the most runs by any team against Monday this year -- and perhaps since her freshman year, Hawkins said -- and recorded three extra-base hits, including back-to-back RBI triples in the third by Morgan Holbrook and Megan Harris.

"We finally got (Monday's) number," said Farragut senior pitcher Rachel Ingleby, the District 4-AAA regular-season most valuable player. "We knew what she was going to throw to us, and we were ready for it."

Hawkins seemed to be more concerned with how Monday might respond to the first real adversity of her junior season.

The right-hander started the season by helping Maryville hold its first 10 opponents to a combined one run. Her only previous losses this year had come during regular-season tournaments, and Monday didn't pitch in Farragut's earlier win over the Lady Rebels.

"As a freshman, any time things went wrong, she went into that funk," Hawkins said. "And we worked her and worked her at getting to the point where you just have ice water in your veins and don't change. She's, for the most part, been that way last year and this year. This is the first time I've seen it really go backwards.

"We'll get out here (today) and try to penetrate into it a little bit. We need her, and we need her mentally healthy."

Ingleby (23-8) wasn't at her best in the circle, scattering 10 hits and issuing three walks in the complete-game win. But she did enough to hold Maryville in check until a seventh-inning rally briefly brought the tying run to the on-deck circle.

Lady Rebels left fielder Chelsea Weaver followed up her game-winning RBI double in Monday's win over Knoxville Central by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and junior third baseman Bailie Roberts went 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Chancli Connatser allowed only two hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

The Lady Admirals, picking up on a few pointers from coach David Moore, scored more runs in one game against Maryville than they did combined in their previous four meetings this year.

"We didn't hit (Monday) as well the other times (this year)," Moore said, "and they started listening to us."

Roberts said the Lady Rebels would be wise to listen to Hawkins when he says their latest loss isn't any reason to worry.

"I think it's going to be more of a help more than it is a problem," Roberts said. "We react well to losses. We don't stay down long. We're the kind of team that gets over it."