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BY DREW COOK
MURFREESBORO — Farragut Softball was a perfect 8-0 combined in their last two state tournament runs, clinching back-to-back state championships.
If they want to three-peat this week, the route will look a lot different.
After the 4A powerhouse lost 6-3 to Arlington in the first round of the 4A state tournament, they have to run the table from the losers’ bracket to repeat as state champions.
Tuesday’s contest came down to executing with runners on base — Farragut (32-6) stranded five runners in the first three innings.
When Arlington put runners on, they made Farragut pay. After Farragut walked back-to-back batters to start the second inning, Arlington (29-6-1) cashed in with a two-run double followed by an RBI single.
In the top half of the third, after Farragut put two runners on, consecutive flyouts ended the inning.
“I just don’t think we played very well,” Farragut coach Nick Green said. “Defense let us down a little bit there and allowed them to prolong some innings. Give Arlington credit, they put the bat on the ball, hit it hard, and they put pressure on us to make those plays and we didn’t make them.”
Farragut had two throwing errors and a fielding error, extending Arlington innings and leading to two unearned runs.
“They had better at bats, and we had too many empty at bats. Our first inning we get to third on a wild pitch, and strikeout – strikeout ended the inning. I think that set the tone for the game right there, unfortunately, not in our favor,” Green continued.
Farragut senior Ava Guzowski hit a no-doubt solo shot in the fourth to put the Lady Admirals on the board. Anna French followed suit with a solo home run of her own in the sixth.
Trailing 6-2 and down to their last three outs, Amelia Dorset and Addison Pressley hit back-to-back doubles to get it to 6-3, but consecutive pop-outs ended the game.
With their backs against the wall, Farragut will see Coffee County at noon Wednesday. The teams last met in the 2021 Class 3A championship game.
“We’ve got two options – we can just be happy that we made it here, or we can come out and fight a little bit. We’ll see if we can prolong our season one game at a time,” Green said.
“You can’t always be perfect. Pressure’s on you to perform now.”