Morgan County captured the Region 4-AAA championship last Wednesday with a 7-1 win over Harlem.
After losing 2-1 on Sept. 19, the Lady ‘Dogs got a much-needed 3-2 victory over Harlem last Monday night, forcing a winner-takes-all game three on Wednesday, which played into their favor.
Morgan County head coach Chad Pigg was incredibly proud of how his girls bounced back after game one.
“The groundwork was laid before I got here. They’ve [the program] has always done a good job here before me, so it’s not like I came in and did anything extraordinary,” Pigg said. “Our girls have bought in. We talked a little before the year and it’s almost like they were afraid to set goals, but I asked them where they wanted to finish. I finally got it out of them, they wanted to win a ring, so I told them ‘Let’s do it.’ I said it’s okay to want that and play for that. Well, we’ve got one so far.”
The third and final game was competitive, despite Morgan County winning by six runs in the end. The first two contests between the Lady Dogs and Harlem were low-scoring and one-run games.
In game three, Morgan scored the game’s first few runs in the third inning. Mallory Martin, Ryleigh Hilsman and Brooklyn Mims all had one-out hits, giving the Lady Dogs a 3-0 lead going into the fourth inning.
Hilsman, who is the ace on the mound for Morgan, continued her dominance in the circle. She pitched a seven-inning game and only gave up one run on five hits with six strikeouts and zero walks.
The Lady Dogs plated four more runs in the fifth. Mims picked up another RBI on a sacrifice bunt before Kymora Smith’s double scored three runners, extending Morgan County’s lead to 7-0.
Pigg stated ever since his team had that talk about goals, his players have been dialed in ever since.
“They girls knew if we do what we do best, we’ll be fine,” Pigg said. “If we make sure that we’re solid on throwing strikes, have quality at-bats and hit hard line drives or ground balls, and play solid defense, meaning making the routine plays, more times than not – it would work in our favor.”
In game two, Morgan trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh but tied the game when pinch runner Kinsley Kindle stole home. The Lady Dogs then won in extra innings as Smith singled, scoring Kindle, who is just a freshman. Her effort gave her team the winning run last Monday.
Pigg said his players felt a “momentum shift” in game two, which helped them tie the series with Harlem.
“It was back-and-forth,” Pigg said. “After Ryleigh hit a double [in the seventh], we put Kinsley Kindle out there to run bases. She takes third on a ball in the dirt and they had two strikes on another freshman Ava Gaddy, who has been playing because Ryan Henderson tore her ACL. She got down 0-2 and I felt like our best chance was stealing home. With our faster runner on third, we tied it up. After that, we didn’t give up momentum and it never felt like we were going to lose the series.”
According to Pigg, Morgan County captured its first region championship since 2015, but he knows the season isn’t over yet. The Lady Dogs sit at 18-7-1 with four games left on their schedule.
Morgan secured the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs after capturing the region title. The Lady Dogs will host a four-team super-regional from Oct. 16-17 with the winner making a trip to Columbus.
The first-year Morgan County head coach said his team is hungry and wants more than a region title.
“The goal is to make it to Columbus,” Pigg said. “That’s going to be our top goal moving forward.”