lady eagles shock alcoa

It looks to Seymour Lady Eagles softball coach Dayna Carter like something is starting to click with her team at just the right time.

Carter made the suggestion in the aftermath of Seymour’s 7-2 District 3-AA Tournament upset win over Alcoa Tuesday night at Alcoa High School. Tuesday’s win makes Seymour 10-8-1 on the season and puts them in better position to play their way into next week’s region tournament.

Seymour will face Gibbs Thursday night in the semifinal round of the double-elimination tournament. If the Lady Eagles defeat Gibbs, they’ll play for a district tournament championship. If the Lady Eagles fall to Gibbs Thursday, they must defeat Fulton, Alcoa or Carter to advance out of the loser’s bracket into the district title game. The district champion and runner-up advance to the region tournament.

Seymour broke a fifth inning 2-2 tie with a one run in the sixth inning and four runs in the seventh to knock off the tournament host Alcoa Tuesday.

“It was awesome,” Carter said of the Lady Eagles’ surprising victory over their conference nemesis which swept Seymour by a combined score of 9-1 in the two regular-season meetings.

“I think the whole year there’s been a big question about the level of energy surrounding this team,” she explained. “At times I don’t feel like their heart has been into it as much as it needs to be. Sometimes it looked like they were just going through the motions.”

That wasn’t the case Tuesday against the Lady Tornadoes. Seymour delivered 12 hits in the game, including three doubles, and freshman pitcher Chaney Graham allowed the powerful Lady Tornadoes offense only six hits though seven innings.

In the sixth inning Seymour’s Brittany Raulston scored on a Courtney Ervin RBI single to break the 2-2 tie. In the seventh, Seymour’s Maci Crain and Tabitha Gibbs each reached base on one-out singles and advanced to second and third, respectively, on a wild pitch. Huelsman then hit a double down the third baseline to score both runners and break the game open.

Raulston knocked a single to the gap to score Huelsman. Raulston later came around to score on a sacrifice to seal the deal for the Lady Eagles win.

“This looks like the team I’m used to seeing,” said Carter. “The team that wants every ball and competes from start to finish with all they have, that’s what I’m used to and that’s the way we looked against Alcoa. I’m extremely proud of the way our girls played It was a complete win.”