MACON — Kelsey Robbins’ new nickname is “trouble.”
It doesn’t matter what moniker members of the Central Academy fast-pitch softball team have used for their junior third baseman. When you deliver in a clutch situation like Robbins did Wednesday, trouble is the perfect word.
Robbins’ two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the third inning proved to be the difference in Central Academy’s 3-1 victory against Humphreys Academy in Game 1 of the best-of-three Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class A Overall State title series.
The victory means Central Academy (19-12) needs one more win to capture its first fast-pitch state championship. Central Academy, which has nine slow-pitch titles, will get that chance at noon Saturday in Belzoni. If necessary, Game 3 will be played approximately 30 minutes after Game 2.
The Lady Vikings will have a chance to win the elusive title thanks to Robbins, who came to the plate after the Lady Rebels intentionally walked catcher Savanah Stapleton, the No. 3 hitter, to load the bases. The move backfired in part because Central Academy coach Sammy Lindsey shuffled his batting order and moved Robbins into the cleanup spot and put junior first baseman/pitcher Allie Beth Rigdon, who usually hits in the No. 4 spot, behind Rigdon.
Lindsey said he made the change because Humphreys Academy intentionally walked Stapleton twice in their matchup Saturday at Shiloh Park in Brandon. Lindsey imagined the Lady Rebels felt good about the intentional walks in their 6-5 victory because he said Robbins had runners on base twice and didn’t get a hit.
“I told her when she went up there, ‘You are one of the best hitters on the team. I have all the confidence in the world in you,’ ” Lindsey said.
But Lindsey and the Lady Vikings had reason to be concerned two pitches into the at-bat. Humphreys Academy pitcher McKenna Polk attacked Robbins high in the zone and recorded a swinging strike on the first pitch.
“I was trying to (hit it to Shuqualak),” Robbins said. “I really was and I totally missed it. That is what made it so much worse.”
Robbins swung again at the second high pitch and fouled it off.
“I knew I had to battle because the umpire was calling them outside,” Robbins said, “so you had to swing.”
Instead of succumbing to another high pitch or letting Polk paint the outside corner for a third strike, Robbins locked in.
“I was thinking, ‘I am going to swing high’ because all of them had been high,” Robbins said. “I swung and I hit and it went.”
Robbins chopped down on Polk’s next pitch and sent a hard groundball to the right of second base into the outfield to score Paige Dawkins, who had reached on a walk, and Ashly Brown, who had singled. Assistant coach Robby Robbins, who is Kelsey’s father, was waiting at first base to slap her five.
“I was really nervous about him calling it a strike because that is the last thing you want to do is get out looking on a strike,” Robbins said. “You always want to battle. I was thinking, ‘Maybe I can tip it off and wait for mine to come in,’ but I took it and I hit it.”
Robbins said she was looking for another high pitch, but she didn’t think she was going to hit it as hard as she did.
Senior pitcher Courtney Gaylord and Lindsey thought Robbins was going to hit the ball over the fence.
“We decided to swap it out and put Savanah and then Kelsey and then Allie Beth, so when they walked Savanah they had trouble coming right back up,” Gaylord said.
Lindsey had that confidence in Robbins, too. He said Robbins usually “goes yard” when she connects on high pitches, but he said he was more than happy to settle for a single.
“The basehit up the middle was sweet enough,” Lindsey said. “After the second strike, she was looking at me (as if to ask, ‘What do I do?’ I told her, ‘You got this,’ and a big smile came across her face and she drove it out there.
“She has a great stick. She has a great eye for the ball. She usually hits it right on the nose. She has great hand-eye coordination and is strong.”
Rigdon beat out an infield hit that went under the third baseman’s glove to score Central Academy’s third run. The Lady Vikings only had two more hits the rest of the way and finished with five, but Robbins’ hit was just enough to give them the cushion they needed.
“I knew as soon as she got up there that she was going to do it because Kelsey always comes through when it comes to stuff like that,” Gaylord said. “Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I can count on Kelsey to get a hit if we need it. She has been in certain situations before and I have seen her pull through, whether it is slow pitch, fast pitch, or basketball, anything. She pulls through all of the time for us. I had the confidence in her I knew she was going to do it.”
Gaylord and Rigdon made the three hits in the third stand up. Gaylord allowed three hits in the first five innings. She hit two batters and struck out two. KK Polk’s home run to left field in the third was her only mistake.
“I knew as soon as I pitched it when she swung it was about to go somewhere because I did not mean to pitch it right down the middle, and that is what I did,” Gaylord said. “That is my fault that girl got that one hit. … I was trying my best to put it on the outside, and I didn’t quite get it out there.”
Rigdon retired all six batters she faced to earn the save.
Central Academy will turn its focus to the nearly three-hour trip to Belzoni later this week. Lindsey said the team likely would leave Friday and stay over so it is ready for what he hopes is a short day at the field Saturday.
“I feel a little more relaxed than I did this morning,” Lindsey said. “My heart was beating pretty faster, especially when it got closer to the end and we were trying to protect that lead.
“We wanted to get the first one at home. You don’t want to have to go to somebody else’s turf and try to win two in a row.”
Gaylord said it will be a challenge to go on the road, but she and Robbins agreed the Lady Vikings are confident and know they can take the next step and secure the championship. Central Academy was the Class A runner-up in 2009-10 with a 27-6 record. This year’s team won’t match that win total, but Robbins and her teammates have shown they can be even more trouble than their predecessors.
“It is going to be nerve-wracking because we aren’t going to be on our field, but I think we can pull it off,” Gaylord said. “I have confidence in our team.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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