By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Validation comes in different forms during a softball season.
When rivals the Millington Lady Trojans and the Munford Lady Cougars hooked up for a contest at the Lady Trojan Softball Field April 5 both teams got a piece of conformation. The Lady Cougars won the game 10-2 to improve there record to 5 games over .500.
Meanwhile the Lady Trojans forced the game to 7 innings, saw pitcher Katilynn McDonald get stronger in the later innings and the bats woke up to apply some pressure to Lady Cougar starter Lexie Billings.
The first four innings belonged to Munford. Lady Cougars Head Coach Glenn Goulder watched Billings strikeout 8 Lady Trojans during that stretch. The number 8 was also the amount of runs produced by the Lady Cougars through four innings.
“We’re probably a little bit better than average to be honest,” Goulder said. “We’re 9-4. We’ve played real well at time and not so well at times.”
Munford was playing well with 3 runs in the top of the third inning with Billings driving in Nata Lee Faulkner and Claire Geiger with a double. Katelyn Daugherty made it 3-0 with a RBI single.
The Lady Cougars rallied for 5 runs in the fourth inning to make the score 8-0. Geiger drove in the first run of the frame with a ground ball. Billings produced another two-run double to make the score 6-0.
MaKayla Stinnett followed with a double to score Billings. Then it was Daugherty’s turn to hit a two-bagger driving in Stinnett to make the score 8-0.
Munford was ahead 9-0 after five inning when Geiger smacked a triple to score Faulkner. Then McDonald settled down and gave her defense a chance to shine in the later innings.
“We let her grind it out,” Millington Head Coach Diego Reyes said. “She kept it going at the end. One run on a drop ball to the catcher, that’s it. I’m proud of her. I can’t be more pleased with these young ladies. We’re going to get there.”
Millington received defensive highlight plays from Erica Wright making a catch on the wall. Alexis Jordan made a diving catch in foul territory to steal an out. And Allix Gordon snatched a laser out of the air at first base.
Lady Trojan Ally Marona, Daphne Fowler and Ann Howard were human vacuums in the infield keeping Munford away from the mercy rule.
“They started hitting the ball,” Goulder said of Millington. “They’re a good team. They started catching up there a little bit. They made some really good defensive plays.”
The Lady Trojan hitting began with a Jordan triple in the fifth inning. But the run production started in the sixth inning with McDonald smacking a base hit to score drive in Fowler making the score 9-2.
Millington’s first run was produced by senior Wright. The speedster singled to reach first. Then Wright took off to steal second base forcing a throw to the outfield. Wright cruised to home plate to break Millington’s drought.
In the seventh inning, the Lady Trojans got a double from Wright and a single from Fowler. But Billings got the final out with her 16th strikeout of the night.
“She had an 8 inning game at Halls the other day,” Goulder noted. “She gutted out a 1-0 win. I thought she grew up a whole lot right there and this is just a continuous of that. She has the grit and determination. She’s going to do fine. The pitching is the least of our problems right now.”
Goulder was happy to see 10 runs on the scoreboard. Lady Cougar Chloe Lowry drove in the final RBI of the night with a single. But the veteran coach said his players have to gain consistency.
“HIttingwise we’re spotty,” he acknowledged. “We need to learn to be a little more selective at the plate. When we swing at ball that are up in our eyes it’s going to be a long night. If we get a little bit more plate discipline I think we’ll be alright.”
Reyes said his Lady Trojans will be fine as well as long as the progression continues.
“ That’s what we take from this, ‘That we’re going to get better,’” he said. “We know that we can compete. The umpire was the umpire against Collierville. He has spoken to me and the coaches saying, ‘Your team, your girls are going to be sleepers.’
“He came today after the game,” Reyes concluded. “’I’ve seen the improvement from two weeks ago to today. I promise you if you keep playing hard you’ll be the sleepers at the end of the year.’”
