When the ball left Emily Mikkola’s bat, coach Gooby Martin thought it had a chance. As it continued to rise while sailing toward the fence, the Warren County Middle School coach knew it was gone.
Much like Mikkola’s first career home run, the Lady Pioneers’ confidence is sky high after winning their first two games in the Central Tennessee Conference tournament. Mikkola’s two-run home run highlighted a 6-1 victory over Franklin North Tuesday while Hope Mullican pitched her third no-hitter in a 15-0 blowout of White County Monday.
Warren County went into the tournament reeling after back-to-back losses to Franklin North to end the season, but Mikkola made sure the Lady Pioneers wouldn’t fall for the third time. Her tough at-bat in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s big win epitomized Warren County’s resilience since starting the CTC tournament following a two-game losing streak.
Leading 4-1, Mikkola stepped to the plate with Mullican standing at second base. After working the count full, Mikkola fouled off three straight pitches to prolong the at-bat. When she took aim at the ninth pitch, the ball wasn’t coming back. The shortstop blasted the ball to left field and it easily cleared the fence while Mikkola took a stroll around the bags.
Mikkola’s home run proved to be the exclamation point on a revenge win for the Lady Pioneers.
Warren County fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Franklin North scored on an error, but Mullican held the No. 2 seed in check the rest of the way. Mullican allowed only four hits and no Franklin North runner advanced past second base in the final three innings.
The Lady Pioneers took the lead for good in the third inning when Lexie Chadwell came up clutch in a two-out situation. Mikkola was aboard after being hit by a pitch and Kyra Hillis joined her with a single, but Warren County was down to its final out in the third when Chadwell stepped to the plate. Chadwell calmly drilled ball to right field that allowed Mikkola and Hillis to score and pushed the Lady Pioneers ahead 2-1. Ashton Whiles followed with a RBI triple to give Warren County a two-run lead going into the fourth inning.
Marah Wanamaker sparked another three-run frame when she hit a one-out double in the fourth. Kelsey Fults entered to run for Wanamaker and immediately was brought around on a single by Mullican. Mikkola would add the finishing touches on the victory with her first varsity home run.
The win followed a dominant performance Monday against White County.
The Lady Pioneers plated 14 runs in the second inning while cruising to mercy-rule victory in three innings against the Warriorettes.
Chadwell got the scoring started with a RBI single in the first inning, but it was only a preview of things to come. Warren County sent 20 batters to the plate in the second inning while piling up 14 runs – its highest run total in an inning this season, topping a 10-run inning against White County in the regular season.
Grace Rains got the rally started with a double – one of six hits in the inning. Other highlights in the frame that featured four walks and four White County errors was a three-run triple by Mikkola, two RBI doubles by Chadwell and two-run singles by Mullican and Hillis.
The huge lead helped Mullican pitch her third no-hitter this season, all coming in three-inning contests. Mullican struck out one and walked four in another solid performance for the eighth-grade hurler. With two postseason wins this week, Mullican pushed her total to double digits with 10 victories.
Warren County will try to reach the tournament finals when it plays in the winner’s bracket finals Friday night. The Lady Pioneers take on Tullahoma, who they beat twice in the regular season, at 5 p.m. With another victory, Warren County would advance to Saturday’s championship game at 5 p.m.