GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Tullahoma Middle School Wildcats made it all the way to the Area Championship to take on the number one seed of the tournament–Whitthorne Middle School. Tullahoma, unfortunately, fell to the opposing Tigers, losing 9-2. The Wildcats’ season still stays alive, and a walk-off win against rival school Coffee County is the reason for it.

Coffee County

The Wildcats took on rivals Coffee Co. Middle School on April 29 in the semi-final of the Area Tournament. Their season looked like it was on its last thread, as they lined up to bat against the opposing Raiders, trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning. But with two outs…

A roaring Wildcat rally took place.

Tullahoma was able to get the bases loaded from three straight singles from Price Harden, Elijah Austell, and Haiden Brinkley. After a pop-up and a strikeout, Macc Chapin walked up to bat to try to erase the goose egg for Tullahoma. He was successful in this quest, with a bruise being added to the Wildcat’s right fielder coming as a cost of his team’s first run now shining on the scoreboard.

With the score now at 5-1, Jett Damron walked up to the plate with the opportunity to tie the game with one swing.

Damron worked to a 2-2 count and found his pitch and attacked it. He shot a hard ground ball that split the Raiders’ shortstop and second baseman into center field. The three Wildcats on base–Harden, Austell, and Chapin–raced home and cut the score to a one-run game.

The Wildcats now had new life in a once five-run game.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, they tied the game at 5-5, with a two-out bases-loaded RBI hit by pitch from Wildcat second baseman Colby Shepherd. This forced an extra inning, and with all things starting to click for the ‘Cats, they wasted no time in punching their ticket to the Area Championship game and the AA Sectional Tournament.

The Wildcats in the eighth inning got the bases loaded for the third inning in a row, and just as they did in the previous two, they capitalized on it. Brinkley was up at the dish and delivered a fly ball single that found grass in center field on the first pitch of his at-bat. Damron, who was on third base, tagged home, stamping a walk-off win for the Wildcats.

Whitthorne Middle

A rally was needed in this contest for Tullahoma as well, however, this time they did not get it. Whitthorne did their damage in two innings–the second and the fourth–scoring four runs in both frames. The Wildcats could not find any spark in their offense, getting only one hit through the seven-inning game.