Compassionate Lady Canes Win
After starting the softball season 10-0, the Lady Hurricanes suffered two setbacks at the hands of the Eagles Landing Christian prior to region play beginning. This could have been seen as a setback, or a time to regroup and work harder. The Lady Canes chose the latter, opening region play by traveling to Towers High School in DeKalb County last Tuesday.
The ladies of Towers were playing their fourth game of the season after falling to both Putnam County in their opener, and losing both ends of a doubleheader against Social Circle the day prior. For some background, the Lady Titans did not have a softball program the season prior, and according to their coach, had only started practicing eight days prior to the visit from the Lady Canes.
The final score of the game, 20-0 for those tracking at home, soon became irrelevant to our girls as they played against the Lady Titans. What showed up that day was more than a box score, or stats, but an opportunity to help a program that has girls that want to play softball, want to get better and compete, just lack in experience and skill.
It was watching senior pitcher Emily Whitwell ask to go over to the other side during pregame to give a pointer to their pitcher as she warmed up, or seeing the joy in the faces of some of our girls as they listened to the excitement of our opponent celebrating the successes that they were able to have on the field.
Sophomore Kelsey Vining, who was pitching at the time, noticed her opponent come up to the plate with a bat that would have been deemed illegal for use, and as the umpire inspected the bat, ran to get a bat of her own for the young lady to use. It was these little things that happened during the course of the game that created a loose atmosphere, and allowed our girls to enjoy playing the game of softball, and just the right medicine after a tough weekend.
The Lady Canes were scheduled to play their next region game last Thursday and travel to Social Circle to take on the Lady Redskins. This was a JV/Varsity doubleheader, but because of a flash storm that came up, among other factors, it was decided to postpone the varsity portion of the competition after two lightning delays and the approaching storm.
The JV was able to play to completion, winning 8-3 to run their record to 5-0 for the year. Addyson Powell picked up the win for the team, pitching a complete game and working out of a jam in the last half of the final inning to do so. The JV ladies were able to manufacture their eight runs on six hits and utilized seven free passes given by Social Circle pitching.
Kayle McCart was the leader on the day with two hits in her three plate appearances, with an RBI double amongst her hits. Madison Miller reached base in all three of her plate appearances due to walks, and scored all three times on base. Cheyenne Hattaway was responsible for two of the team’s four RBI’s (four other runs scored on passed balls/wild pitches).
The two teams were to pick up again Wednesday, with another JV/Varsity doubleheader, a make-up game for the varsity from last week. Today, Sept. 5 both the JV and varsity squads will travel to Barnesville to take on Lamar County. The next home game for the Lady Canes is Tuesday Sept. 10, when they host McNair in another region matchup. They will return to the road the next day in a rematch with the Griffin Lady Bears, before returning home for a return game against Towers on September 17.
In another act of kindness, parents of the Lady Hurricane softball program have been taking donations to help assist the Towers team in building their program from, in a sense, the ground up. If you have any gently used equipment that you would like to donate, feel free to bring it by the softball complex. All we ask is that it is high school regulation, so that we’re giving our friends from Towers something that they can use.