Robbinsville – After an 8-7 loss to Murphy on April 19, the Hiwassee Dam softball team had given themselves little room for error. The Lady Eagles were technically still alive for the Smoky Mountain Conference championship with a 6-1 record, but had two games the next week against defending conference champion Robbinsville.
The Lady Knights were a thorn in Hiwassee Dam’s side last year, beating the Lady Eagles twice in the final week of the regular season to win the conference title and then topping them again in the second round of the state playoffs. They also owned a 32-game winning streak against conference foes.
However, the Lady Eagles showed up relaxed and didn’t back down, outlasting Robbinsville 8-7 in nine innings to force a tie in the loss column in the conference standings.
“They just did it,” head coach Roger Adams said. “They came in and ended up absolutely playing lights out. Every position I had somebody made a special play.”
Leading 5-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Robbinsville (13-4 overall, 8-1 conference) scored in both the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to keep the game going. Neither team struck in the eighth before Hiwassee Dam (9-5, 7-1) scored three in the ninth.
Payton McNabb scored Kiera Taylor on a go-ahead double, then Katie McNabb hit a two-run double to extend the lead. The Lady Knights answered with two in the bottom of the inning, but Taylor ended the game by making a diving play at shortstop and tagging second base. It was one of several excellent defensive plays made in a total team win.
“They just never stopped,” Adams said. “And kept pushing through and they never got down. Never got down on themselves no matter whether we gave up one run or two runs there at the end, anything. They just stayed.”
The rematch was scheduled for last Friday at Hiwassee Dam, but was canceled due to poor field conditions. The Lady Eagles traveled to Swain County (11-7, 5-4) Monday and hosted Cherokee (9-5, 5-5) on Monday, then are scheduled to travel to the Lady Braves on Thursday.
Robbinsville, meanwhile, only has two other conference games remaining, both against Hayesville (2-8, 2-7). If both teams take care of business, then the makeup game against the Lady Knights would be for the conference championship. That game had not been rescheduled as of press
time.
Kevin Hensley of The Graham Star contributed to this report.