TAYLORSVILLE — It wasn’t so long ago, less than a week actually, that Freedom’s softball team steamrolled over Watauga for a 10-run victory.

However, after Watauga claimed a 7-5 victory over the Patriots in the semifinals of the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament Wednesday night, that 11-1 thrashing on May 8 seems like a distant memory. Instead of struggling at the plate, the Pioneers got a pair of two-run home runs, one each from Kara Tester and Jennifer Ballew, in the third inning that gave Watauga a 5-3 lead they would never lose.

“I thought we were a little more relaxed tonight,’ Watauga pitcher Tori Wright said. “We were relaxed and ready to go.”

It is the first time since the state of North Carolina switched to fastpitch softball that Watauga has reached the NWC Tournament finals. The Pioneers (7-15) were seeded sixth, but rallied in the top of the seventh inning to beat South Caldwell 2-1 Tuesday night and followed with their win over the second-seeded Patriots.

Watauga takes on tournament host Alexander Central, which beat A.C. Reynolds 12-0 in the other semifinal game. Alexander Central is the top-ranked team in 4-A North Carolina softball and ranked No. 9 nationally.

That game will be played Friday at 6 p.m. at Alexander Central’s field.

“The scores have been lopsided both times, but at times we’ve played well,” Watauga coach Brian Vannoy said of facing Alexander Central. “We want to come down here and play seven solid innings and give ourselves a chance in the end.”

Watauga had already found itself down 3-1 going into the fourth when Tester cracked her home run over the left-centerfield fence, driving in Chandler Butler and tying the game 3-3. Two batters later, after Breanna Steinke reached base on a single, Ballew hit her two-out home run nearly in the same place.

Butler, who scored in the first inning on a Hannah Yates single, scored her third run of the game on another Yates RBI single. Kayla Kincaid also drove in a run with a single in the fourth inning, pushing them in front 6-4.

Butler went 3-for-4 with a first-inning double. The Pioneers were able to collect 10 hits off Freedom pitcher Ashley Hasson, the same pitcher who shut them down one week earlier.

It was enough for Wright to work with. Wright scattered six hits and struck out four, walked four and hit one batter. She also retired 10 of Freedom’s final 11 batters, the only exception being a walk to Ali Ford in the sixth inning. Wright put the Patriots down in order in the seventh inning, final final out being a strike out.

“A big difference was that she started getting ahead of the hitters in the late innings,” Vannoy said. “Earlier she started falling behind and had to come into their zone. But when she gets ahead in the count, she can get some pitches to get batters out.”

Freedom took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-run Brittany Harrell single, and added a run in the second on a Laura Chapman RBI single.

Brooke Ellis scored on an error in the third inning and Ford, who had two hits, scored on a wild pitch in the fourth. However, that would be it for the Patriots, who did not score the rest of the game.

“We came out and had a couple of misplays there, but I think we were just getting a ahead of ourselves,” Vannoy said. “I think once we settled down we got a little bit of confidence and started believing we could finish it off.”

Watauga put itself in the semifinals when they rallied from a 1-0 deficit to beat South Caldwell 2-1. The Pioneers got an RBI double by Tester, who drove in Butler to tie the game 1-1.

Tester scored on a fielder’s choice by Steinke. Wright made sure South Caldwell, which also beat Watauga last week, did not make it two in a row.

Wright did not allow an earned run, scattered four hits and struck out two.

Matison Hall scored an unearned run on Christina Hall’s RBI single. Christina Hall also pitched for the Spartans.

“Hall’s a good pitcher,” Vannoy said. “We came out and got two back-to-back hits, moved the runner over and got her in. I think that parlayed into tonight. We didn’t hit the ball well early, but we hit it well late.”

Watauga 7, Freedom 5
Watauga 104 100 1 — 7 10 2
Freedom 211 100 0 — 5 6 0
Wright and Pierce. Hassan and Harrell. W—Wright, L—Harrell. LOB—Watauga 5, Freedom 7. 2B—Watauga, Butler, Wright; Freedom, Ford. HR—Watauga, Tester, Ballew. SB—Freedom, Ford.