MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Gracie Daniel hit her second home run in as many games, Annie Prince pitched another complete-game two-hit shutout, and the Community Viqueens (33-8, 8-0) advanced to their first-ever State Championship game with a 2-0 win over Unicoi County (36-5, 10-0) on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s awesome getting there,” Viqueens’ Head Coach Cam Farrell said postgame, “but the job’s not done. We want it all. We don’t want some of it, we want every bit of it.”

After seeing their season come to an early end against Liberty Creek a season ago in the semifinals, the Purple & Gold were determined to not let this golden opportunity slip through their grasp. Community plated two runs in the top of the first inning, and the two-run lead was enough of a cushion for Prince to work with in the circle. Prince pitched 7.0 shutout innings, giving up just two hits while striking out 15 batters and walking just three unintentionally. For the second-consecutive game against the Lady Blue Devils, the Viqueens intentionally walked Lela Byrd all four times she stepped into the batter’s box. Prince brings her total strikeouts in the State Tournament to 39 across three games with zero earned runs given up. 

“The last couple of games, Annie [Prince] has been calling her own pitches,” said Farrell, “I kind of let her off the leash and told her to do her thing. I’ve been calling and coaching pitches for a long time, and the only way I let pitchers call their own pitches is they have to show me how hard they work. That kid works so hard every single day. She might take off a Sunday here and there, but her and her daddy are working on pitching every single day. I have all the faith in her in getting things done because of her work ethic.”

Her counterpart in the circle, Byrd, pitched admirably in her own right. Byrd started and pitched in an earlier elimination game win over Adamsville, and she pitched all 7.0 innings against the Viqueens, giving up two earned runs on five hits and no walks with seven strikeouts. 

Luckily for Farrell’s squad, Community was able to strike before Byrd settled into a groove. Anna Haskins led off the game and was hit by the very first pitch, and then she was able to advance all the way to third base on a wild pitch. Kamryn Farrell stepped up and delivered a flyout to left field, but it was deep enough to allow Haskins to tag up and score the first run of the game to bring up Gracie Daniel.

Daniel settled into the box, working ahead in the count before smashing a no-doubt home run over the left-center field wall for her third home run of the season as well as her second round-tripper against Byrd in as many days.

“She [Gracie Daniel] is another one that is non-stop,” said Farrell, “That kid is just a go-getter. She works hard, you don’t have to tell her anything, it’s just awesome. I love it for her. That’s the big thing. She’s in the limelight doing her thing, and she just works so hard to where when her number is called, she gets it done.”

Neither team truly threatened the scoreboard until the bottom of the seventh. Unicoi started the inning with 7-8-9 due up, but both Kyndal Engle and Abigail Peterson worked a full count before taking ball four, putting runners on second and third with nobody out and prompting a rare visit to the circle from Farrell. 

“I just told her, throw it to them and let the kids hit it because you have a good defense,” Farrell said about the visit with his ace, “She was trying to get the strikeouts, but she settled down, pitched the ball, and did her job.”

Prince induced a flyout to center from Brooklyn Sparks, but then the lineup flipped over to Byrd, who the Viqueens then intentionally walked to load the bases with one out to bring up Kianna Woodward. Prince struck out Woodward on four pitches, and then she sat down Aaliyah Engle on three pitches to seal Community’s spot in the Class AA State Championship game on Saturday on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University at the Blue Raider Softball Field.

“I hope that the whole place is rockin on Saturday,” Farrell said, “I know it’s going to be a good crowd because Bedford County in general comes out and supports. The things that have been done for us coming into this tournament, it’s such a blessing and it’s amazing. It’s not just people in Unionville, it’s people all over the county, and that’s been a blessing. We’re very thankful for all the support.”

At the plate for the Viqueens, Kamryn Farrell went 0-for-2 with an RBI on a sacrifice-fly, Gracie Daniel was 1-for-3 with a solo home run, and Haylee Webb finished 1-for-3. Kailani Allen was 2-for-3, and Hayden Moore finished 1-for-2.

Community plays for the right to hoist a gold ball on Saturday at MTSU against either Marion County or Summertown. The first pitch is still TBD.