MURFREESBORO, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Rossview High softball team traveled to the Murfreesboro Starplex for the first game of the TSSAA Class 4A Softball State Tournament against the defending state champs, the Dobyns Bennett Indians. The contest was a pitcher’s duel throughout, which needed 10 innings to be decided, and Rossview’s four runs in the top of the 10th powered them to a 5-2 win.

Early on, both pitchers were dealing. Hawks right-handed pitcher Avery Rauscher dominated in the outing, allowing only five hits in 10 innings pitched, while also allowing only one earned run. She also struck out 13 and walked none.

Dobbyns Bennett finally struck first in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homerun. However, the Hawks rallied, with shortstop Addyson Waller tallying a double in the top of the seventh, and with the Hawks on their last chance, who else but Rauscher scores Waller on an RBI single to send the game to extras.

“Rauscher is a stud, there is no one better around,” said Hawks head coach Travis Gillette. “If there’s one person, we want in that position for Rossview, it’s her. I could not be prouder of her performance today.”

In extras, neither team got on the board during the eighth and ninth innings, so they went to the tiebreaker, where a baserunner is placed on second to start the tenth. While it took a couple of batters, Hawks third baseman Evon Dowlen took the lead with a 2-RBI double. Then, catcher Kylee Gillette added two more runs with a single, which let the Hawks take control of the contest. One runner got across in the bottom of the 10th for Dobbyns Bennett, but it wasn’t enough for the Indians to come back, and the Hawks collected a big win in game one.

Next up, the Hawks will take on the Walker Valley Mustangs at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Rossview has continued to fight all year, and they intend to continue in this tournament with that same mentality.

“That one was amazing, just amazing,” said Gillette. “We went down, but we just fought back, we’ve done that all year, just continued to fight. Our focus is to play our game. We’ve fought everybody this entire season, and we’ve never given in. We’re going to fight in this next game too.”

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