No. 2 Terrell Academy opens GIAA Softball Tournament against Deerfield-Windsor

COLUMBUS — Terrell Academy and Deerfield-Windsor know each other well.

Perhaps too well.

The longtime rivals have already met twice this softball season. On Thursday, they will see each other again—this time with considerably more at stake.

Second-seeded Terrell Academy and No. 7 Deerfield-Windsor will open the GIAA Class AAA state tournament at noon Thursday at the South Commons Softball Complex. The matchup is among the first games of the three-day, double-elimination tournament featuring the state’s top eight teams.

Both teams will play again later Thursday, with their opponent and game time determined by the opening-round results.

Terrell Academy (12-7) enters as one of the tournament favorites after finishing behind only top-seeded Westfield, the nine-time defending state champion. Deerfield-Windsor earned the seventh seed during coach Dwayne Suggs’ first season with the program.

The Lady Eagles dominated the two regular-season meetings, winning 18-1 and 13-3. Terrell coach Ashley Walker, however, does not want his team carrying those scores into Thursday’s game.

Past success will not provide runs in Columbus. It will not record an out or move Terrell into the winners’ bracket.

Walker wants his players focused on the approach that helped them earn the No. 2 seed.

“I’m telling them to stay true to what we have been doing,” he said. “We have to stay consistent and confident about our identity. We can’t go out and put unnecessary pressure on ourselves in different situations.”

That message carries particular importance in a double-elimination format, where one difficult inning does not have to end a season—but one loss can make the road to the championship considerably longer.

“We have to adapt and adjust from game to game,” Walker said. “We have to go out and control the rhythm and flow of the game.”

Terrell has prepared for this week by playing an ambitious regular-season schedule. The Lady Eagles deliberately sought difficult opponents and uncomfortable situations with the hope that both would pay dividends when the tournament arrived.

That schedule helped produce the state’s No. 2 seed and another opportunity in Columbus.

The Lady Eagles reached the championship game last season before falling to Westfield. Returning to that stage will require a veteran core led by seniors Caroline Pressley, Hadley Webb, Alyssa Godwin and Laine Brown.

Those four have experienced the pressure of the state tournament and understand how quickly momentum can turn when every team in the bracket is capable of ending another’s season.

Deerfield-Windsor arrives from the opposite direction.

The Lady Knights have only two seniors, Laiyah Williams and Kambrell Williams, on a roster that has spent much of Suggs’ first season learning and developing through difficult competition. What Deerfield lacks in experience, it can counter with the freedom that comes with being the lower seed.

The Lady Knights have nothing to lose—and no reason to be intimidated by a familiar opponent.

Terrell, meanwhile, must resist the temptation to expect Thursday’s game to resemble the first two meetings. The setting has changed. The pressure has increased. Deerfield gets another chance.

Walker’s final instructions have been less about strategy than perspective.

“I told them to relax and have fun,” he said. “The hard part is over. Now we just play the game we love to play.”

The regular season established the seeds. It gave Terrell two decisive victories and placed the Lady Eagles one spot behind the most accomplished program in the tournament.

None of it guarantees what happens next.

At noon Thursday, the records and previous scores become background noise.

Two rivals will meet again. This time, the road to a state championship begins on the other side.