History has been known to repeat itself.
After winning Game 1 against Resurrection Catholic in the Class 1A third-round playoff series last year, Taylorsville's season ended with back-to-back losses in Game 2 and 3.
Against Ethel — in this year’s third-round playoff series — recent history repeated itself.
Taylorsville fell 3-1 to Ethel on Wednesday in Game 3, which began on Monday but was halted in the bottom of the first inning due to weather.
“The bottom line is that [Ethel] wanted it more than us today,” said Taylorsville head coach Laine Jordan. “They came out ready to go, and we came out a little flat. We tried to pick it up in the later innings, but you can’t let good teams hang around by making errors and leaving runners on. We did those things too much today.”
All three Ethel runs were unearned.
Ethel scored on a throwing error in the first inning on Monday, then added a pair of runs on Wednesday in the third on back-to-back fielding errors with two outs.
“You got to be able to make routine plays in those situations,” said Jordan. “And we didn’t. All three of [Ethel’s] runs were unearned.
Taylorsville bats were cold until the final two innings; four of the five Tartar hits came in the sixth and seventh inning. A total of 10 Tartars were left stranded on base, which included three stranded in the bottom of the seventh with the potential game-tying run on second and the would-be walk-off run on first.
The only run for the Tartars came on an RBI single in the sixth.
Taylorsville ends the season 19-14 overall and one win shy of an appearance in the Class 1A South State series.
"We'll grow from it," said Jordan. "We return everybody [next year], so I hope this fuels them in the off-season, and they come back ready to go next year."
Taylorsville returns a roster that didn’t include a junior or senior this year.
“We’ll be back next year with higher expectations,” said Jordan.