Maybe it was because it was their first time in a high school region softball tournament. Maybe it was because they had to play in unfamiliar surroundings. Maybe it was because Tiffany Walker showed up.

Perhaps Arts & Sciences’ Lady Patriots felt the effects of all of the above Tuesday at Grace Academy. They ended up being no match for the Lady Golden Eagles, who advanced to the Region 3-A final by defeating CSAS 4-0.

Whitwell will host Grace (29-7-2) at 6 p.m. today for the championship. The loser will play at the Region 4 champion and the winner will host the runner-up in Friday’s state sectionals.

“We were playing on a field and against a team we hadn’t played, and this was an all new experience for us,” CSAS coach Chris Hendrix said. “We’ll learn from it. This is a good team we played. They proved it.”

Tiffany is one of Grace sophomore Lacye Walker’s older sisters. Perplexed with watching her younger sister struggle with her swing in her first two at-bats, the Lee University slugger offered some advice before she came up again.

Lacye found a pitch up and away to her liking and drove it over the fence in left field for a two-run homer in the fifth that boosted the lead to 3-0. Hendrix said he considered pitching around her, but his eighth-grade right-hander Liana Rodrigues had pitched her effectively before.

“Tiffany knew exactly what she was doing wrong,” said Grace coach Tina Walker, their mother. “She took her aside, talked to her and that worked. She came back and hit. She said she was not seeing the ball.”

Coach Walker acknowledged the good work that Rodrigues was doing against her team’s offense and reasoned that’s why the Lady Golden Eagles resorted to “small ball” to keep pressure on the Lady Patriots. Aside from Lacye’s blast, the Lady Golden Eagles had four infield singles and Mara Reeves bounced one through the right side on a hit-and-run that set up their first run. Lexie Dean finished 2-for-4, also reaching on an error on a bunt, and scored a run.

Where CSAS was overmatched was when Lacye Walker was in the pitching circle. She totaled 17 strikeouts and had a no-hitter through four innings.

“Sometimes when she’s pitching in a big game, she’s so focused on pitching that her batting isn’t always there,” Coach Walker said. “When she’s in the pitching circle, she seems to stay strong there.”

Chariah Gordon’s hard-hit triple to right-center in the sixth was one of three hits off Walker, but it came with two out. Erin McCance, a captain and five-year starter at shortstop, singled in her final at-bat as a Lady Patriot.

“This has just been the best,” Hendrix said. “We had our doubters. We knew we had the team and just wished we could go as far as we could. You hate to see it end like this.”

Baylor earns 3 seed

Baylor beat Pope John Paul II 7-1 at Baylor and earned the No. 3 seeding from the East/Middle Region for the best-of-three Division II-AA sub-state series.

Baylor (16-11) will play two games Friday at Briarcrest Christian and one Saturday, if necessary. The series winner advances to the Spring Fling in Murfreesboro.

Coach Kelli Smith was pleased with her team’s offensive execution, despite the Lady Red Raiders having no extra-base hit. But they made three sacrifice bunts and scored after each.

Alex Card was 2-for-3 and scored twice and Kaitlin Phillips hit a single that drove in two runs in the third inning. Braleigh Angel advanced to second when a throw missed the cutoff on her seventh-inning single, and she ended up hustling home from second on a groundout.

“They committed five errors and we took advantage of every one of them,” Smith said. “We ran the bases extremely well, and we mixed in seven hits among them.”

Winning pitcher Kaitie Sims allowed two hits and two walks while striking out six.

Region 3-A semifinal

GRACE ACADEMY 4, ARTS & SCIENCES 0

CSAS 000 000 0 — 0 3 2

Grace 000 130 x — 4 6 0

WP: Lacey Walker (16-1), 17 Ks, 2 BB. LP: Liana Rodrigues, 8 Ks, 3 BB. HR: Walker (GA). 3B: Chariah Gordon (CSAS). Highlights: Lexie Dean 2-4, run; Walker 2 RBIs (GA). Records: Grace 29-7-2; CSAS 11-8.

Division II-AA East/Middle Region

Third-place game at Baylor

BAYLOR 7, POPE JOHN PAUL II 1

Baylor 003 101 2 — 7 7 0

PJPII 001 000 0 — 1 2 5

WP: Kaitie Sims (9-1), 6 Ks, 2 BB. LP: Mialisk. HR: Hammer (PJP). 2B: Mialisk (PJP). Highlights: Alex Card 2-3, 2 runs; Kaitlin Phillips 2 RBIs (B). Record: Baylor 16-11.