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Beulah had their backs against the wall coming into their matchup with Piedmont. The Bobcats fought and kept their championship hopes alive with a 4-2 win over the Bulldogs in the class 3A softball tournament.

Beulah’s fans had to hold their breath until the final out. Piedmont was held scoreless for the first six innings of the game. The Bulldogs rallied in the seventh inning and scored two runs with two outs. Brandy Phillips and her team stayed the course to get the final out and keep their season alive. 

After having eight runs scored on her in the second game of the state tournament, Phillips was able to return to her normal form in the third game. Phillips pitched all seven innings, she allowed one earned run, and she allowed one non-earned run. Phillips also tallied nine strikeouts. 

“If she’s pitching like she did tonight and the first game, we’ll be fine,” Coach Stan Pepper said. 

Pepper mentioned before the start of the tournament that the team would need some of the other girls to step up. Tonight, Savanna Clements and Kyleigh Morgan stepped up in a big way. Clements and Morgan accounted for three of Beulah’s 4 RBIs. 

“They both had huge at bats,” Pepper said. “Kyleigh hit the home run and her bat really woke up. She (Savannah) was the reason we got everything started early in the first inning.”

Beulah played uncharacteristically in their second matchup in the state tournament. Pepper thinks that the game was not right from the start. 

“That second game was just one of them kind of fluky deals,” Pepper said. “I didn’t like the vibe to start the game to begin with.”

The Bobcats were able to keep their spirits high despite losing their game against Mars Hill BIble. That seemed to play a big factor in their third matchup. 

“For us to have gotten that many runs scored on us, the girls were actually in a really good mood,” Pepper said. “I was really surprised, you know they were having fun.”

The Bobcats were in a similar position at this point in the tournament last season. Pepper believes where they finish will be up to the girls to decide. 

“We put ourselves in a situation where we just have to win two more back-to-back,” Pepper said. “We’ve been in this situation for the past two, and it’s just a matter of how bad do we want it.”