Murphy – After starting the week off great with a win against Swain County, the Lady “Diamond Dogs” dropped two heartbreaking games last week; first to 3A Franklin 13-9, and then their second meeting with Swain 5-4.
Murphy started the week off with a win at Swain County (7-6) on April 22. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning via Gracie Thrasher’s home run, the first hit off of Swain pitcher Rylee Rawls.
Murphy added another run in the third inning, when Emma Laney reached on an error and later scored on a Taryn Morrow single to give the Lady Dogs a 2-0 lead. The lead would be short-lived, as Swain stormed back in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game.
After giving up two back-to-back singles, it looked as if Paisley Johnson was about to get out of the inning after recording two outs. That was not the case, however, as Swain’s Carley Teesateskie reached on an error, scoring both Swain runners to tie the game at 2.
Swain’s pitching would hold the Lady Dogs scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. Emma Laney and Taryn Morrow reached base after two outs in the inning.
Gracie Thrasher picked up her second and third RBI with a double to give the Lady Dogs a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Lady Dogs would thwart a Swain rally to get a 4-3 win.
Johnson went the full seven innings, giving up one earned run on seven hits, walking three and striking out 12 batters. Gracie Thrasher went 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run and three RBI to lead the Lady Dogs.
The Lady Dogs played non-conference foe Franklin (14-2) on April 24 and fell 13-9.
With the game tied at two apiece in the end of the second inning, Franklin pulled ahead 4-3 in the third inning. Murphy’s runs came as Tarya Morrow doubled to lead off the second inning.
A two-out double by Paisley Johnson scored Morrow, and a Franklin error allowed Johnson to score. Emma Hensley singled to get on base in the third, while Gracie Thrasher picked up an RBI when she reached base with two outs in the inning.
Murphy tacked on another run in the fourth inning, when Johnson led off with a double and later scored on Aiden Smith’s double. The only problem was Franklin matched that run in their half of the fourth and still led 5-4 at the end of four innings. Emma Hensley tied it up in the top of the fifth inning with a home run, but again Franklin pulled back ahead in the bottom of the inning.
Finally, in the top of the sixth inning, Murphy would score three runs to take the lead. Murphy loaded the bases with nobody out, and Julia Dockery doubled to score all three runners to give Murphy an 8-6 lead. The bottom of the sixth was when disaster struck.
That’s when Franklin reeled off seven runs on five hits. They were helped by three Murphy errors, which gave Franklin a 13-8 lead. Murphy could only manage one more run in the seventh.
On Friday, Murphy had built a 4-1 lead through five innings of play against the Lady Devils through six innings, but a late seventh-inning rally by Swain would pull the victory away from the Lady Bulldogs.
Taryn Morrow would double to lead off the second inning. Later in the inning, Dockery would double to score Morrow to give Murphy a 1-0 lead. A pitching duel between Johnson and Swain’s Rawls continued to the bottom of the fifth inning.
Swain got the scoring started in the top of the fifth inning. Rawls got on base to lead off the inning and later scored on a Murphy error to tie the score at 1-1.
Murphy stormed back in the bottom of the fifth, when Dockery and Laney singled to give the Lady Dogs two base runners. Johnson doubled to score both of those runners to give Murphy a 3-1 lead.
The Swain rally came in the seventh inning. With one out, Rawls’ single, followed by a double and triple by teammates Kennedy Anthony and Teesateskie, tied the score at 3 apiece.
Faith Woodard gave Swain the lead with a two-run homer to make it 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Murphy seemed as if they might pull this one out in the bottom of the seventh. Hensley reached on a one-out walk and scored when Laney followed her with a double, but Laney would be stranded at second base to end the game as the Lady Dogs suffered their first Smoky Mountain Conference loss.
The Lady Dogs face conference-leading Robbinsville for two games this week and will need to win both of those games in order to have a chance at clinching a conference championship. Murphy will play its final regular-season game at 4:30 p.m. Friday.