MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Community Viqueens (31-8, 7-0) managed to muster up enough offense to find a way past the Kingston Lady Yellow Jackets (22-5, 8-0), 5-1, in the first round of the Class AA State Tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Of Community’s seven total hits, two of them were rockets off of the bat of an unsung hero in Haylee Webb. Webb, who kept the Viqueens’ season alive in the District 9-AA Elimination game against Chapel Hill with a two-out, two-strike, RBI-base-hit, showed up with a pair of barrels, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, and three RBIs.

“She [Haylee Webb] struggled a little bit in the middle of the season, and you can call me crazy, but I was kind of glad she struggled a little bit,” Community Head Coach Cam Farrell said postgame, “The good thing with her is she has parents that will tell her if she’s not playing well enough, and that kid is never going to be down for long. I didn’t know when she was going to get hot, but I knew she would at some point this season. She has been hot, and I think she will continue to stay that way in this tournament. She works extremely hard, and I’m proud of her. She’s just a hard worker.”

Annie Prince steadied the ship in the circle for Community, and she outdueled her counterpart, Sailor Presley. Prince pitched 7.0 complete innings, giving up just one unearned run on two hits and three walks while striking out a whopping 14 batters on 105 pitches. Presley, to her credit, was no slouch, giving an elite Viqueens’ offense a tough time of their own. The MTSU signee gave up five earned runs on just seven hits and zero walks while striking out 10 batters.

“She is just a baller,” Farrell said about his ace pitcher, “She’s here to do a job, that’s the best way I can say it. She may slip here and there, but she’s here to do a job.”

Although Kingston threatened with a Presley double off the wall in the first inning, Prince stranded runners on second and third to keep the game scoreless. 

Neither side would score until the top of the fourth when the Viqueens were able to plate three runs and take a 3-0 lead. Kamryn Farrell led things off with a single, and then Gracie Daniel reached safely on a missed infield fly from the first baseman. With one out, Webb roped a 2-RBI double to the left-field wall, and then Prince yanked the next pitch over the third baseman’s glove and into left for an RBI-single.

In the top of the sixth, Daniel led off with a single, and then Mattie Maxey sacrifice-bunted her into scoring position to bring up the hot-hitting Webb. She kept her hot streak going, barreling up another ball to right-center field for an RBI-triple and a 4-0 lead. Prince drove Webb home on a sacrifice fly to take a 5-0 lead with just six outs to go.

After intentionally walking Presley, she would eventually come home to score on an error, but Prince settled back down to slam the door shut on the Yellow Jackets and send the Viqueens into the winner’s bracket.

“They all want to win so badly,” Farrell said about his squad, “It’s not been very hard on me. I feel like this year is the first time that from our dugout to the field, everybody wants to win, and that makes a huge difference on the field.”

“This first one was huge. It would be even bigger to get the next one.”

At the plate for the Viqueens, Anna Haskins led off going 1-for-4, Kamryn Farrell went 1-for-4, and Daniel finished 2-for-3. Webb was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, and three RBIs, and Prince went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.

Community will take on Unicoi County in the 1-0 game at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, weather permitting, at Starplex Field No. 2 in Murfreesboro.