Posted on April 13, 2017.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Lady Trojan pitcher Jessie Strickland toss the ball to first baseman Tazerria House Friday evening to record a MHEA out.
Softball’s roller coaster ride took the Millington Lady Trojans on some extreme highs and a couple of deep lows this past week. The Lady Trojans finished the week of April 3-7 with a 15-4 victory over MHEA at Miles Park. Millington traveled to Haywood County Tuesday night and dominated winning 11-0 in six innings. Lady Trojans pitcher Jessie Strickland threw a complete game giving up one hit and only two walks in the win. Offensively the Lady Trojans were led by Hannah Clifton, Angela Healy and Marquisha Sanders. The trio had six of Millington’s 13 hits in the game. “The girls came out and hit the ball,” Millington Head Coach Whitney Horton said. “They capitalized on good pitches and let go the ones that were in the dirt or above their heads. They swung at good pitches. We had 13 hits in that game. They did well Tuesday night.” Friday the Lady Trojans welcomed MHEA to town and used a big second inning to lead 9-3. Paige Hall drove in a pair of runners to make the score 4-3. Next up was Healy using a base hit to make to the tally 6-3. Another pair of Lady Trojans crossed home plate courtesy of Tazerria House’s single. Ashley Hernandez made the score 9-3 with a hit. In the third inning Millington scored 4 runs. Kasey Gallo led off the frame with a double. She was able to steal home on a wild pitch to make the score 10-3. Healy drove in another RBI with a ground ball. Haley Boykins drove in the 12th run with a single. House kept up her hot hitting driving a double to the outfield to make the score 13-3. The final two RBIs of the night came courtesy of Camila Irizarry and Hall in the fourth inning. Strickland closed out MHEA for the victory. Millington was 1-2 during the week heading into the MHEA contest. The Lady Trojans suffered a tough defeat to the Briarcrest Lady Saints and then a blowout loss to the Ripley Lady Tigers. “We hit the ball against Briarcrest but defensivewise we made a few errors that cost us some runs,” Horton recalled. “That cost us the game. Little mental errors that we’ve tried to fix this week. We had to come back the next day and play Ripley here. Our minds just weren’t into the game. Our whole demeanor, we were just out of it. Basically the score says it all, over with in three innings.” Horton said with May approaching, she will keep preaching the basics to her players. “Just like I told the kids, when softball season starts there are basically no off days,” she said. “We play basically every single day. We had a hard loss like we did against Briarcrest, you try to pick the kids up. I told them I didn’t see anything wrong with that night.
“We hit the ball and played well,” Horton concluded. “We just made a few mental errors. My catcher is out so that has hurt me. But she’s cleared to play and will be back this week. But You’ve just have to keep their minds set.”
