Bad-hop triple sparks Tunstall past Brookville in softball

DRY FORK — Jessi Chandler trucked around the bases for an unusual triple shortly after Brookville tied the game in the sixth inning, punctuating a contest filled with wild momentum swings by slapping a grounder up the middle that caught a lip in the field and took an extreme leap over the center fielder’s head before rolling to the fence.

“I thought it was just a single, and then I looked and the ball was going over the center fielder’s head and (assistant coach) Devivi was hollering, ‘Three! Three! Three!’” the Tunstall senior said. “I was like, ‘Oh crap! I better go.’ I almost fell over there.”

Megan Dillion, who has been battling illness for a week, knocked in the go-ahead run with a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the sixth and Tunstall hung on for a 2-1 victory against Brookville in a Group AA state quarterfinal on a brutally hot Tuesday afternoon in Dry Fork. The undefeated Trojans (22-0) advance to the state semifinals in Radford for the third consecutive season and will face Piedmont District rival Patrick County, a 2-0 winner against Turner Ashby, in a state semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday. Tunstall has defeated Patrick County by a single run in each of the teams’ four matchups this season, most recently in the Region IV championship game Saturday.

“It’s an easy team to scout. We know each other very, very well,” said Tunstall coach Roger Cook, who is retiring after this, his 26th season leading the Trojans. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m glad that we have the four wins and not the four losses, because somewhere in the back of your mind you might begin to doubt yourself as to whether you can beat a team. But we’ll be prepared for them. If it winds up another one-run ballgame, so be it.”

Cook was honored during a pre-game ceremony, and Tuesday’s game was his last at Tunstall’s home field.

Tunstall ace Brittany Arnn, the Piedmont District Pitcher of the Year, earned the victory by striking out nine batters and allowing no earned runs in seven innings. She walked two and surrendered three base hits.

Jessica Hesson scored in the top of the sixth inning for Brookville (20-6) to tie the game at 1-1. She reached base on a fielding error and scored from second on a single to left field by Sarah Truxell.

Chandler snatched the momentum right back for Tunstall, however, leading off the bottom of the sixth inning with a sharp ground ball up the middle that caught a lip in the field between the infield dirt and the grass outfield. The ball, played more or less perfectly by Brookville center fielder Tabatha Maddox, took an extreme bounce over her head and rolled to the fence as Chandler hustled around the bases, finally stopping at third.

“I was excited,” Dillion rasped, a hand over her throat. “I was thinking, ‘Run Jessi! Run!’”

Pinch runner Molly Nanney scored the winning run on Dillion’s fielder’s choice a few moments later, beating the throw home.

“Any other day, on any other field, that would have simply been a single,” Arnn said, “and we would have hoped to move her over and then eventually score her. But for that to hit that lip and go over that girl’s head, that was crucial.”

Tunstall took a 1-0 lead against Region III runner-up Brookville in the second inning, after leaving the bases loaded in the first, when Jenna Rudder’s single to right scored Dillion. She reached base on one of five walks issued by Brookville pitcher Nicole DeFilippo, the Seminole District Pitcher of the Year, and advanced to second and third on sacrifice bunts before scoring on Rudder’s hit, her second of the day.

Heather Francisco and Chandler accounted for Tunstall’s other two hits.

“Just a routine ground ball right back up the middle — a single at most — but it hits that lip right there. It’s just one of those freak things,” Brookville coach Gary Ferguson said about Chandler’s game-changing triple. “We just came up one run short. We got beat by a good Tunstall team. They’re not 22-0 for no reason, but they also know they beat a good Brookville team.”

Wolf is a staff writer at The Danville Register & Bee.