By Adam Regan
Adam.Regan@independentmail.com
864-260-1236
WILLIAMSTON — When Frannie Caulder took over the Palmetto softball program four years ago she saw that the talent, work ethic and dedication needed to win a state title was already in place.
At the time, her vision of hoisting hardware at home in front of a packed stadium was just that — a vision. On Wednesday, it became a reality.
Palmetto (32-6) swept the Class AA championship series with a second consecutive 1-0 win over Dillon (27-5) to earn the program’s first state crown.
Caulder’s forecast for a young, scrappy group of girls proved prophetic.
“I knew they had what it takes to do this,” she said. “Every year they got better and better and better.”
Tabitha Allen turned in another stellar start in the circle and Ryan Rector scored the only two runs in a tight series as the Mustangs officially put themselves on the map.
“We’re the underestimated team. We’re Palmetto, we’re from the middle of nowhere,” Rector said. “But we pushed through. We don’t care what people say about us.”
In that vain, Palmetto didn’t want to give any of its doubters the chance to suggest it would choke away the series in Game 3 on a neutral field after winning in extra innings in Dillon on Monday.
“We didn’t want to go anywhere else. We wanted to win in here on our field to show that this is Mustang ball,” said Allen, who gave up four hits and struck out three while wiggling out of a few jams in the process.
Rector’s run in the bottom of the second didn’t come quite as easy as her eighth-inning homer that won it for Palmetto two days earlier.
Hitting clean-up Wednesday, Rector led off the frame with a single to center and then caught the Wildcats off guard following a Landon Bulloch bunt. She went from first to third after seeing nobody covering third base.
Shaquailla German’s wild pitch gave her the chance she needed to score.
“I was hoping for anything —a base hit, a passed ball,” Rector said. “When I saw the ball go through I was going.”
It was all the Mustangs would get as they left the bases loaded twice and kept the door open for a Dillon comeback until Allen shut it.
With the bases loaded in the third, Allen got a force out at home and induced a Tara Grimsley pop out to get away unscathed.
Dillon put at least two runners on in the final three innings.
“We didn’t get the hits when we needed to. We hit the ball hard, we got runners on base. We just didn’t come through with the hits,” said Dillon coach Shirl Carter, whose club stranded nine runners. “They scored the runs when they had to, how they had to.”
German and Shayna Covington found their way on with the Wildcats down to their final out, but Palmetto third baseman Victoria Williams squeezed a Grimsley soft liner for the final out that was followed by one grand final celebration.
After entering the season with tons of potential, the Mustangs came out on the other side as state champions.
Dillon 000 000 0 — 0 4 0
Palmetto 010 000 x — 1 5 1
WP — Allen; LP — German.
Top hitters — Dillon: Grimsley 1-4. Palmetto: Rector 1-2, R; Ford 2B
Records: Dillon 27-5; Palmetto 32-6.
