Live Oak's "dream" hit turned into a nightmare for the Benton Lady Tigers here Friday.
The Lady Tigers didn't allow a run through two full games and through six innings of their third, but Live Oak's Natalie Fernandez ripped an inside-the-park home run down the first base line in the seventh inning to score three runs and lift the Lady Eagles to a gut-wrenching 3-2 win over Benton in the Class 4A quarterfinals.
"That was a dream hit and I was sending her from the time she rounded first base," Live Oak coach Michelle Morris said. "Natalie is probably one of the fastest girls in the state, so I was confident she would make it."
The loss put an end to a stellar season by Benton (23-5), a team loaded with seven seniors, who left the Frasch Park field in tears.
"We had two outs, two strikes with two runners on and she came up with the big hit," Benton coach Michelle Owens said. "I'm disappointed for my seniors, because they wanted it so badly. But we played great defense all day, so I'm proud of our effort."
