Tiplady Puts Spartans In Title Game with GW Hit
RADFORD, VA - One game away, that is what the Lady Spartans are from a Group AA State Championship after beating Tunstall 1-0 in nine innings on Friday. The game showcased once again the incredible pitching of Spartan junior Caitlyn Delahaba, who struck out 19 Trojan hitters on her way to a 2-hitter and second consecutive shutout. Delahaba's counterpart, Brittany Arnn, threw an equally good game for Tunstall, but when it mattered most, the Trojan southpaw couldn't hold off the Spartans to advance to the state title game.
Delahaba started the game on fire, striking out the first 6 Trojan hitters of the game, but her finest stretch of pitching may have been in the top of the 6th inning. Tunstall's Jenna Rudder started the inning off and reached first, then two bunts later, the Trojans had the bases loaded with no outs. With the Trojans threatening to break the game wide open, Delahaba dug her heels in on the mound and proceeded to strike out three hitters in a row to keep the game scoreless at 0-0.
The Spartans threatened in the bottom of the 7th, but slugger Karla Powell hit into a double play with a runner on second after her line drive was caught by Trojan first basemen Meagan Wood.
In extra innings, both pitchers continued their dominance as both teams failed to do much until the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Judy Betz stepped to the plate and quickly fell down in the count 1-2. On the fourth pitch, Betz was hit by Arnn on the arm and took first base. Courtney Kramer then followed with a single that moved Betz to second, and that set the stage for the dramatic plate appearance of Kaitlyn Tiplady. Before the first pitch to Tiplady, Spartan head coach Ed Steele pinch ran for Betz with freshman Anna Blessing. Tiplady drilled the first pitch from Arnn into centerfield for a single and Blessing scored easily from second to give the Spartans the 1-0 win and a berth in the state championship game Saturday at 10am. Tiplady knew right when she hit it that the game was over.
"As soon as I saw it off the bat I knew we had won, it was an incredible feeling to win the game like we did today," Tiplady said. "Our goal was to win the state championship, and now we have a chance to go do it tomorrow, so we are all excited.
Head Coach Ed Steele was really impressed with how his kids hung in there with Tunstall's pitcher Brittany Arnn. Arnn kept the Spartans in check at the plate all day long, and Steele had only good things to say about Arnn's performance.
"She was really on her game today," Steele said. "She did a great job of keeping the ball away to our hitters, and we struggled to make things happen with the bats. It seemed like every time we hit the ball, it went right to one of their girls. But the only thing that matters is we got the win."
For Steele, this will mark the 3rd time in the last decade that his Lady Spartans have played for a State Championship. Broad Run will have to wake up early Saturday with the first pitch being thrown at 10am, but Steele doesn't think that will affect his squad.
"This is just like a tournament situation for us," he said. We've been in these situations before so I'm not worried about being sharp Saturday. However, I did tell the team that they can't just show up because they won today, they have to go get this thing and play even harder tomorrow."
With their performances in the semifinals, Broad Run's Caitlyn Delahaba and Kaitlyn Tiplady were named the Chick-fil-A Players of the Game. Delahaba had 19 strikeouts and only allowed 2 hits in the 1-0 shutout. Tiplady's game winning single helped put her team in the Group AA State Title Game against New Kent.
The Spartans will play New Kent on Saturday at 10am with the live broadcast coverage starting at 9:45am right here online at www.GamedayMagazine.com. Broad Run improved to 28-0 on the season after Friday's victory and Tunstall finished the season at 22-5.
