By T. Scott Boatright
The Simsboro softball team came out and put the pedal to the metal with wheels smoking and pitcher Carlei Wheeler in the driver’s seat as the 15th-seeded Lady Tigers roared to a 10-3 win over 18th-seed Evans Friday night in the opening round of the Division V Nonselect school playoffs Friday.
Wheeler started out strong, facing only three Lady Eagle batters in the top of the first inning, fanning two of them.
By the time it was all over Wheeler had struck out 16 Evans batters and thrown a no hitter through four innings.
Simsboro jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the bottom half of the opening stanza with leadoff batter Callie Harrison scoring the first run off a passed ball before Jacoya Lewis singled and who one out later scored when Kaylea Murphy reached first off an Evans error..
Harrison led off the top of the third and scored off a Wheeler single before Wheeled rounded the rest of the bases on a trio of wild pitches to put the Lady Tigers on top 4-0.
After striking out 11 batters into the fifth, the wheels got off balance for a bit for the Simsboro pitcher as Evans plated a pair of runs to cut the Simsboro lead to 4-2 through four-and-a-half innings.
But the Lady Tigers countered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as Harrison, Lewis and Wheeler all scored with Wheeler, Murphy and Ciara Caldwell each notching an RBI.
Trailing 7-2 going into the top of the sixth stanza Wheeler hit a batter before giving up an RBI double as the Lady Eagles cut the Simsboro lead to 7-3.
But that’s when Wheeler floored it again, striking out three of the next four batters she faced to work her way out of the jam.
“I realized I had to make some adjustments,” Wheeler said. “In a game, sometimes during a game my mechanics kind of mess up and get off track, and when that happens I slow down and focus on my mechanics.
“Then after making those adjustments and feeling my mechanics coming back, I can pick the speed back up. Once I feel those mechanics get better and back in the groove, I pick my speed back up.”
Wheeler’s performance, including striking out the only three batters she faced in the top of the seven inning, wasn’t a surprise for Simsboro coach Payton Bond.
“She’s got a really good head on her shoulders and knows how to harness that energy and channel it when we need it and not let it kind of fly off the wheels,” Bond said about his junior pitcher. “She just locked in and that just shows the maturity she’s gained as the years have gone by. Maybe in the past she couldn’t have, whereas this year she is able to do that.”
Bond said having Lewis behind the plate catching for Wheeler has played a big role in his team’s chalking up a 19-10 record so far this season.
“They’re best friends,” Bond said. “They’re walking the halls together and going to class together. Just to be able to have that kind of relationship — they’ve been together since the seventh grade before I got here — I knew they were going to be cornerstones for me to build around.
“And they do a great job of that. I’ve got a younger team. I’ve got a freshman at third base. I’m playing an eighth grader and a seventh grader, a freshman in right field and an eighth grader at shortstop. We’re young. So just to be able to have those two mentor them and show these younger girls that we’re never really out of it and that if the others can make those players, those two will have their back. Just make the next play. We’ve built on that all year. So to see that all come together puts a smile on my face.”
Simsboro added its final three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with Wheeler hitting a two-RBI triple before Murphy knocked in the final run.
The win was especially sweet for Bond, who saw his Lady Tigers start strong in their playoff opener last season before falling 10-3 at Hicks.
“Carli doesn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and gets 16 Ks, after seeing her do so well during the regular season, it was just nice to see her get this one — a big one — under her belt,;” Bond said. “Last year (in the playoff game at Hicks) she started out hot — she had a no hitter going into the third and we just fell apart in the middle.
“So to see us play a full game around her and see our bats come alive, too, was something we wanted — just keep our foot down on the pedal and never stop.Being able to execute a bunt and run there at the end and move the runs around, that was big. This was an entire team win. Together we all did this, and I’m proud of every one of them.”
Next up for Simsboro, which chalked up its first postseason win since 2018 with the victory over Evans, will be a second-round game at No. 2 seed Zwolle in a game Bond hopes will be played on Tuesday to give his team Monday to hold practice.
“We knew we had to handle this one first, but Zwolle lost a big one to Stanley in district play,” Bond said. “We beat Stanley last weekend. So just to be able to see that we’ve beaten teams that have beaten them, we’re ready to go. We’re fired up.
“So we were excited to be there when we saw that (bracket) draw. Even though it could have been a third shot at Choudrant, we wanted Zwolle because we feel we can beat them. We wanted that challenge. The road runs through them and I’m excited to see where it ends up next week.”
