Dale and Davenport went into the slow-pitch state tournament at Firelake last week with their programs at different places and they had different results, Dale won its eighth slow-pitch state championship by beating Silo, 18-17, in a thrilling home run derby of a championship game on Tuesday. It was the Lady Pirates’ second championship in a row Davenport has won 13 slow-pitch state championships going back to 1994, but the program had been in the doldrums since their last one, which came in 2016. Even though they lost, 15-2, to Red Oak, the Lady Bulldogs made a statement. For Dale, the championship game was a tingler, even for head coach Andy Powell, who is used to hoisting championship plaques. “That’s one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of, especially in slow pitch, when you know you have to score and both teams are banging it back and forth,” he said. “What a game. It’s sad someone had to lose that game. They’re good, and it was The finish was tense, with Silo getting the potential winning run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. but the DLPs got the final out on a sinking line drive to center field.
Davenport showed up at the tournament with five freshmen and only one senior in the starting lineup. They started out the season 3-8 but won eight of their last nine games 21-15. before the state tournament and finished “We definitely ended the year with with,” said coach Heather Gaylord. “The girls figured out how to jell a lot more wins than we started it together and work with each other and understand how to trust each other. And it shows.
“I think the girls were ready. We just didn’t have a good hitting day. That made a difference. Red Oak is an excellent hitting team. Home runs are hard to defend.”
The Red Oak game was the last game for Landry Miller, a four-year starter who batted .555 and scored 10 runs during the playoffs.
But she and her underclassman teammates made it clear: Davenport softball is back.