It didn’t take the Rock-dale Lady Tigers very long to celebrate senior night, seeing how they possess just one in Cailey Knighton.
In a fitting farewell, Knighton figured prominently in the game that propelled Rockdale to the next level.
The Lady Tigers jumped out early and held on for an 8-6 victory over Lexington Friday at the Softball Complex to clinch a state playoff berth—their first since 2014.
At the very beginning of the year, we set a goal to make playoffs,” said third-year Rockdale Coach Erin palmer. “Everything we have done has been directed at achieving that goal.
“We talk about making throws that a playoff team would make, getting hits in situations that a playoff team would get, and stepping up and performing when the pressure is on because that is what a playoff team will be able to do.”
With a 14-5 win over Cameron Tuesday night, Rockdale stands 15-11 overall and finish 8-6 in District 20-3A play.
There is a logjam at the top of District 19-3A between Whitney, Troy and Groesback, so it may take a while to figure out who the Lady Tigers will face in the first round of the playoffs.
In the meantime, Rock-dale will face neighbor Milano in a warmup game here Tuesday, April 24 at 6 p.m.
The win over Lexington—who was above Rock-dale in the standings—provided the Lady Tigers with a two-game cushion over fifth place Cameron and Jarrell.
Lexington (16-10, 9-4) had blanked Rockdale 10-0 in the first go-round.
“Having 11 hits as a team definitely helped, Palmer said. “They allowed us to score early and score often. We were also more disciplined at the plate than Tuesday’s game and focused defensively.”
The 6-foot-1 Knighton chalked up her 35th victory as a Lady Tiger Tuesday which puts her third on the all-time list.
Her 415 strikeouts puts her in second behind Kaleigh Montelongo’s 416. A long playoff run could vault her to the top of the list.
Friday night, the righthander fanned seven batters and scattering five hits on 126 pitches.
After allowing four runs in the first two frames, Knighton shut down the Lady Eagles in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and allowing just one hit during that stretch.
Knighton is also Rock-dale’s leading hitter with a sparkling career-best .379 average with 17 runs batted in.
In four years, Knighton has fashioned a .330 batting average.
Knighton had a single Friday night but a ground out to second base produced an RBI that pushed the Lady Tigers ahead 5-4 in the fifth inning.
Macy Knesek proved to be a firestarter for Rock-dale from her leadoff spot, going 3-for-4 with an RBI that gave the Lady Tigers an 8-4 lead in the sixth.
Karley Leopold had a couple of singles as did Kylie Eubanks.
The big blow of the evening came from Payton Miller who ripped a triple to the left-centerfield fence that cleared the bases to provide Rockdale with a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Rockdale added some much-needed insurance runs in their last at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After Miller reached on an error and Eubanks singled, Andrea Salazar slapped a single up the middle to score both for an 7-4 lead.
Lexington mounted a comeback in the top of the seventh with a couple of singles to close the gap to 8-6, but Knighton caught Lady Eagles leadoff hitter Grace Leon looking with two runners on to end the game.
Cameron
The Lady Tigers pulled out the whipping sticks in a 14-5 victory over Cameron Tuesday.
Rockdale banged out 17 hits, including two home runs from Leopold and Casarez.
There were many hitting stars: Knesek went 3-for-5 with a triple, while Montelongo drove in three runs and Eubanks brought home two runs.
Knighton struck out 14 batters and allowed five hits to secure the win.
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