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Portageville takes down St. Pius 4-2 in sectional
FESTUS -- By her own admission, Portageville ace Taylor Tiffany didn't have her best stuff when the Lady Bulldogs opened up their Class 2 sectional matchup with St. Pius X on Thursday.
Five walks and two hits in the first couple innings alone spotted the Lady Lancers a two-run lead, leaving the Lady Bulldogs to wonder if their bats could overcome much more of a deficit.
Like they have all postseason, however, Portageville found just enough offense to down St. Pius, 4-2, and advance to their first-ever quarterfinals appearance.
"It was actually a little stressful today," Tiffany said. "My riseball and my screwball weren't really working but finally those last few innings I was doing okay. The strike zone was a little difficult (to get used to) today, but I tried to work through that. I started just zoning in those last four innings."
While Tiffany racked up six strikeouts through two innings, location seemed to be the issue as she allowed five free passes in that time span.
Her first, a two-out walk in the top of the first, came back to haunt the Lady Bulldogs when a double from St. Pius' Alexis Wilson scored the first two runs of the game.
Three straight two-out walks in the top of the second frame packed the bases and the Lady Lancers looked ready to break the game open if not for a timely third strike that got Tiffany out of the jam.
With her team now in catch-up mode, Savannah Lovins provided the spark on offense with back-to-back doubles that put Portageville on top for good. She opened the bottom of the second inning with a lead-off double before eventually being brought home on an Alexis Glidewell grounder.
Back up in the third, Lovins' bases-loaded, two-out double to deep left field plated the tying and go-ahead run. A third runner tried to come in on the play, but was gunned down at the plate.
Lovins' heroics come less than a week after her two-run home run lifted Portageville to a 2-0 win over Kelly in the district title game.
"Savannah is definitely one of our power hitters," Portageville head coach Ashlie Patton said. "It's not just all power, she's good at hitting the ball on the ground and getting it through holes. She pulls through a lot of times when we need her."
Added Tiffany, "(Savannah) has been phenomenal these last couple games we've played."
With a newfound lead, Tiffany looked like her typical dominant self in retiring 16 of the final 17 hitters she faced. The Lady Lancer's only runner in the final five innings came on a fifth-inning single and was stranded at second base on a inning-ending pop up.
Down to their final three outs, the Lady Lancers opened the seventh frame up by striking out swinging, followed by Tiffany making a diving catch on a line drive back to the circle.
Tiffany caught the final hitter looking to seal the game.
"It feel amazing," Tiffany said of making the quarterfinals. "The first couple innings I was a little worried, but I knew my team could make it through and just get through those innings."
Outhitting St. Pius 9-3, Portageville (22-6) was led by Lovins, whose two doubles drove in a pair of runs and she scored another. Tiffany's two singles was the only other Lady Bulldog with multiple hits.
Jill Kellam's single in the fifth, bringing in Jill Cook for Portageville's only insurance run, with Cook, Shelby Rone, Mikayla Rone and Glidewell all adding a single to the cause.
"We were a little nervous (going down early) because we didn't want to lose it," Lovins said. "We had already come this far. But once everybody started hitting we started getting more confident."
For the Lady Lancers (14-11), Lauren Marks was 2 for 3 with a run scored and Alexis Wilson doubled for their only extra-base hit.
Tiffany went a full seven innings where she allowed three hits and five walks while striking out 14.
"We did a better job early in the game laying off her rise ball and we didn't carry that over later in the game," St. Pius head coach Kevin Halley said of Tiffany. "We had some really good at bats early, but had a couple of defensive mistakes that may have hurt us."
St. Pius 200 000 0 - 2
Portageville 012 010 x - 4
WP -- Taylor Tiffany. LP -- Danielle Robinson. Multiple hitters: (S) Lauren Marks 2-3; (P) Taylor Tiffany 2-3, Savannah Lovins 2-3. 2B -- (S) Alexis Wilson; (P) Lovins 2.