How Stewarts Creek softball turned a district shocker into a TSSAA state runner-up finish

MURFREESBORO – Stewarts Creek's bats heated up late, but a little too late.

Dobyns-Bennett held off a Red Hawks surge in the sixth inning to capture the program's first TSSAA Class 4A state softball championship with a 3-2 win over Stewarts Creek on Friday at Blue Raider Softball field on the campus of MTSU.

Stewarts Creek's runner-up finish came in its first championship game appearance.

"I don't think anyone thought we'd be here," Stewarts Creek coach Jennifer Fernandez said. "We knew. But we were sort of up and down during the regular season. Then we fell into the consolation bracket of our district tournament."

Dobyns-Bennett pitcher Julianne Tipton induced a pair of ground outs and a strikeout to lift her team to a state title in the program's first state tournament appearance. Tipton pitched a complete-game, two-hitter with six strikeouts.

Stewarts Creek (31-16) made a run at it in the bottom of the sixth after trailing 3-0. With only one hit to its credit until that point, Brooke Kemp's bloop single was the first hit for the Red Hawks since the second inning. Kloe Quigle followed with a RBI triple to cut the lead to 3-1 and Tenayja Thomas singled to cut the lead to 3-2.

But Tipton shut the door in the seventh to end the Red Hawks' rally.

Stewarts Creek's 9-7 loss to Cookeville to start the District 7-4A tournament sparked an hour-long discussion between the team in which players were held accountable. It turned around Fernandez's team that resulted in a district tournament runner-up finish, a Region 4 championship win and the school's third appearance in the state tournament.

"We all knew we could be a better team," said Thomas, the team's senior centerfielder. "We talked about what we needed to do as individual players to play better and take ownership of the team. After that meeting, we were a different team."

Stewarts Creek knocked off defending 4A champs, Green Hill, to start the state tournament on Tuesday, then beat Henry County and Knoxville Halls three times before facing Dobyns Bennett (35-11). And Stewarts Creek accomplished it with a starting lineup that includes three sophomores and a freshman.

"We're young and this team can be right back here next year," Fernandez said. "We believe that."

Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinsontheleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: TSSAA softball: Stewarts Creek finishes state runner-up in Class 4A