By Michael Butler

The Tallassee softball Tigers begin post-season play in the Class 4A Central Regional at Lagoon Park at 9 a.m. on Tuesday against Oak Grove. The top two teams in the eight-team bracket will receive bids to the state tournament in Oxford.

Tallassee (17-16) made its last state appearance in 2021 and have been a win shy in the regional the past three seasons. Last year, the Tigers lost to Marbury 10-9 in Montgomery ending their season.

“It’s going to be a test,” said head coach Pat Love. “Every team is going to be solid.”

Prattville Christian, who beat Tallassee 10-7 in the area championship, might be the favorite. The Panthers swept the Tigers this season finishing the regular season with a 36-6 record and ranked in the ASWA top ten.

“They’ve got two really good pitchers and a couple of college commits,” said Love. “With us, if we show up and don’t make errors, we can compete with anybody. We swing the bat as good as anybody.”

Leadoff hitter Cheyann Easterling has led the charge at the plate batting .535 with a team-leading 53 hits, 54 runs and 40 stolen bases. Regan Easterwood, Kam Tate and Marlee Osborne are all hitting over .400. Overall, the team has a .355 batting average.

“If we play our ball, we can move on – no doubt,” Love added. “The girls are excited.”

The team has four seniors and then a gap of just sophomores, freshmen and eighth graders. Osborne and Tate are 10th graders who have pitched the majority of innings. Osborne has a 3.83 ERA of 96 2/3 innings. Tate’s ERA is 5.16 over 65 innings.

“The key is to win the first two games. You have to win three to make it. If you lose one of the first two games, you’ve got to win four to make it. I like where the girls are. The key is don’t make errors, don’t put anybody on and you score the people you put on base. You just scratch and claw.”