At times on Saturday, the sound was deafening.

Paris vs Cairo Photo Gallery

The stands around the Paris softball field were packed full of fans for a Class 1 state quarterfinal game, with the half adorned in blue hoping they would see an unprecedented sight. The state No. 8 Lady Coyotes defeated No. 3 Cairo 8-6 to advance to the program’s first ever state Final Four.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to death,” head coach Collin Huffman said. “It’s monumental,  breathtaking and exhilarating. Any superlative you can think of, that’s probably the superlative for this game.”

Huffman is in his seventh year as Paris head coach, overseeing the program as it went from single digits to its 23rd win on Saturday. He joked that it “stinks” to lose the coin toss and be forced to play as the away team on the Lady Coyotes’ home field, but it didn’t matter.

No matter the situation during the game, it didn’t matter to Paris (23-6). It trailed 5-0 after two innings to a team the Lady Coyotes lost 12-3 to in the third game of the season after allowing 12 unearned runs. Still, they tied it at 5 and then tied the game again at 6 before Knightlee Mitten hit the game-winning two-RBI double in the seventh inning. 

“I just went, ‘Nah, we got this. We’ll be fine. Don’t look at it,’” Huffman said after falling behind 5-0 early. “They didn’t. They really didn’t. They just kept plugging along and taking great at-bats and holy cow.”

Kennedy Ashenfelter pitched all seven innings for Paris to continue shouldering all of the postseason innings for the Lady Coyotes and countered Olivia Cross (nine strikeouts in seven innings and a two-RBI home run), who struck out seven in seven innings in the first meeting. The senior perhaps wasn’t “loose enough yet” early in the game on a colder day against Cairo (24-5), according to Huffman, as she didn’t start putting up zeroes until the fourth inning and maintained that the rest of the way.

Ashenfelter’s bat, however, took less time to loosen up as she cleared the bases in the third inning with a double prior to Reese Sutton unloading her seventh home run of the year in the form of a two-run shot to center field to tie the game 5. Ashenfelter fouled off five pitches in that at-bat before hitting a missile into the gap in what was just the start to her 2-for-3 day with four RBI — her second straight four-RBI game.

“Whenever I’m batting, I go up with the mindset that I want it in a certain spot,” Ashenfelter said. “Whenever it’s not, I just keep fouling them. Fouling them back and trying to get that perfect pitch to sail out so I can do something with it was just, one, luck, and, two, lots of practice.”

“She is always a tough out,” Huffman said. “It’s just how she approaches every time. She’s never uptight, she’s always relaxed and she knows she can hit with two strikes. She’s done it ever since I’ve had her.”

Huffman joked that Ashenfelter is so relaxed that she doesn’t get too excited even after a big moment. Ashenfelter just stood at second after she cleared the bases, and Huffman asked, “Really?” However, he knows she is internally excited and it displays the valuable leadership she brings.

“It speaks to her leadership abilities,” Huffman said. “She doesn’t want to show too much because she wants to make sure everybody else is locked in all the time too.”

Even if Ashenfelter doesn’t want to yell her head off, the Paris community that packed the stands and areas around Garnett Memorial Field picked up the slack and then some. Ashenfelter’s bases-clearing was the first loud event and the final one was after Paris clinched an 11 a.m. semifinal game Friday against No. 5 Gallatin (23-8). She said Garnett has never been that loud.

“Our community really came together for this one, and it really helped,” Ashenfelter said. “I don’t think I could hear a thing. We’re trying to line up. I’m yelling at the girls to line up, and nobody could hear me yelling it. It was very loud.”

When Ashenfelter came up again, she fell behind 0-2 but worked her way to another pitch to hit to tie the game at 6 with a single. Mitten was in a similar situation later in the game but with two outs instead of no outs. She just swung at strike two before sending a rocket to the gap to score Reese Sutton and Sophia Crusha.

Sutton was intentionally walked after the Nos. 2 and 3 hitters, Emma and Kennedy Ashenfelter, were retired. Cairo thought it could wriggle out of the inning with no damage after passing through the Nos. 2-4 part of the Paris order that accounts for 47 percent of the team’s RBI and was coming off 11 combined RBI in a district championship victory over Community R-6. However, Mitten had 25 RBI going into her game-winning at-bat.

“I tried to tell myself I could it,” Mitten said. “It was really tough. For me, I get in my head. I’m really bad about doing that. I just told myself to do that, I took a deep breath and then I hit the ball.”

Mitten was relieved the ball wasn’t caught and excited when Huffman sent Sutton and then Crusha around third base. She roared to her dugout while standing at second base as it was drowned out by the pervasive noise from all around.

Huffman said he believes teams will pay attention to other parts of the Paris lineup now because of how talented the girls are in those spots. He pointed to Ava Crain drawing a walk and getting a base hit from the No. 9 hole and Sophia Crusha after Cairo gave the Lady Coyotes a free baserunner. Huffman thought Cairo might walk Sutton with nobody on, and then the versatile Crusha with her good bat handling (.483 batting average) and speed (19 stolen bases) bunted her way on.

“As soon as I saw that third baseman back, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re dropping this down immediately’ and then she’s just on,” Huffman said. “Now, for my free walk that you gave me, all I need is a single technically. Then Knightlee comes through and blasts that double, and I’m like, ‘Thank you.’ Everything was coming up Paris at the end.”

On the way to Paris’ field on Saturday, it’s difficult not to notice all of the blue and white strewn around downtown. A mural that says Paris Lady Coyotes with all of the numbers of the players covers a wall on Main Street. Huffman, who said his sister brought family from two hours away, said the mothers prepared a breakfast that morning for the team to show support before they even stepped foot on the decibel den that was created from 440 tickets sold, according to Huffman.

“Winning brings people together,” Huffman said. “For a small community like ours, it’s important to have things like that because a lot of people aren’t used to winning. It’s just amazon who shows up and comes to support them. It’s an unbelievable thing, and it brings a community closer together.”

“It’s amazing,” Mitten said. “I really like the support and all of these people coming out to support our softball team.”