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Portageville ready for its first semifinal test
PORTAGEVILLE -- In just their third year of fall competition the Portageville Lady Bulldogs have made an improbable deep postseason run that isn't over yet.
Now they sit just two games away from greatness.
On Friday the Lady Bulldogs will open up play at the Class 2 semifinals in Springfield with a chance at their first ever state championship on the line.
"We've enjoyed what we've done so far," Portageville coach Billy Cook said. "We're putting the rest of our focus on taking it one game at a time from here on out."
So far, Portageville's postseason run has been defined by clutch plays at every turn. They've yet to win a game by more than two runs with all games but one coming down to a timely hit in the late innings that put the Lady Bulldogs on top.
"Our kids have finally got into that groove," Cook said. "We're not going to give up and we're not going to lay down. We're going up there to make adjustment after adjustment until we can get something in play."
In the semifinals they'll meet a team on the opposite end of the spectrum in Pleasant Hope, who has won each of their four games by nine runs or more. Portageville has won their four postseason games a combined 9-3 while the Lady Pirates have outscored their opposition 41-7 in that same span.
The two team's one common opponent this season was Neelyville, which the Lady Bulldogs beat 5-0 back in mid-September during the Lady Devil Invitational in Chaffee. Pleasant Hope is coming off a 9-0 win over Neelyville in the quarterfinals.
One thing the Lady Bulldogs (23-6) have going for them in the semifinals is Pleasant Hope (22-6) likely hasn't faced a pitcher as dominant as junior Taylor Tiffany. Through her four postseason starts Tiffany has given up just three runs and saved her best performance for her team's quarterfinal matchup against Bowling Green.
There, Tiffany out-dueled Madison Ingram for a 1-0 win where she no-hit the Lady Bobcats, striking out 17 in the process. Both pitchers had no-hitters through five innings until an RBI single from Kelsi Miller made Ingram pay for an earlier walk.
"She's just an outstanding kid on the rubber," Cook said of Tiffany. "I just hope this year she gets all she deserves. Give props to Bowling Green in that game. Their pitcher was awesome too. It's probably one of the better pitching duels I've been in all year long. It was a tough game for them to lose. A one-hit, one-run loss is tough."
One thing Cook isn't worried about is nerves. Though his team was admittedly a little rattled to start their sectional matchup against St. Pius, where they fell down 2-0 early before coming back for a 4-2 decision, Cook feels his team has put that behind them.
"It was our first postseason game after districts and there was a lot of jitters," Cook said of the St. Pius matchup. "The girls were good going in to the game, but I think when it came down to it there were some nerves for sure. (Now) my girls our probably as loose as they've ever been. They're comfortable and I feel good about them."
Portagville will take on Pleasant Hope Friday at 2 p.m. at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. If they win they'll play the winner of Fatima (20-7) and North Platte (27-1) on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the championship.
A loss would leave the Lady Bulldogs contending for third-place Friday night at 7 p.m.
"We've had a good three days of hitting and we'll spend (Wednesday) as a travel day," Cook said. "We'll get over there and get the girls settled in and acclimated with the facilities, then we'll be right back to practice. We have practice scheduled for Thursday morning and that afternoon as well. We think we're sitting pretty good."