This Strawberry Crest softball team is about to boldly go where no Lady Chargers team has gone before.
The girls punched their ticket to the FHSAA state championships Friday night with a 6-4 win over Oakleaf – a win that came down to the wire in the final frame.
Pitcher Scottie Todd threw a complete game to get the win, and generally looked solid. Todd did get a little roughed up in the third inning, giving up two runs to the Lady Knights, but a strong bottom third by the Crest offense helped ease her nerves. Of course, it also helped that the Crest defense was on point and able to back her up.
"I told them, 'It's not over,'" head coach Mindy Miltner said. "'We can score runs at any time.' They came back in the next inning and put them on the board."
Indeed, they did. Brandi Ashmore put Crest on the board with an RBI single, scoring Celia Higgins – who tweaked her ankle on the slide into home – and, with bases loaded, Becca Roberts was hit by a pitch and walked to score Stephanie Dwyer. Kaylan Kelly gave Crest a 3-2 lead with an RBI single, and Taylor Finney then made it a 5-2 lead with a two-RBI single.
This flurry of runs gave Todd and Crest's defense the confidence needed to fly through their next three half-innings. In the bottom sixth, Crest added some insurance to its lead with a Dwyer RBI single to right field.
With one half inning to go, all Crest had to do was get three outs. But Oakleaf didn't make it easy: the Lady Knights hit two triples, enabling themselves to score two runs to make it a 6-4 game with two outs.
It was another jam for Todd to try and get out of, and she delivered: the Crest ace induced a weak hit and was able to make that final out happen in the shallow infield.
"Scottie pulled through," Miltner says. "Our defense played great. We ended up with a W."
With the win, Crest advances to the state semifinals for the first time in school history. It was an emotional night for everyone in the home dugout, for sure, and Miltner considers the berth to be something like a dream come true.
"I'm still in awe, at this point," Miltner said. "We're the first team to win a regional. We've never been this far. I just told the girls yesterday, I want them to experience that state atmosphere. This is very emotional for me."