LFO’s Nelson Chapman slips past a tag attempt by Dade County shortstop Seth Swader during a Region 7-AA game March 8 in Trenton, Ga.. Although Dade County committed five errors in a 10-6 loss that day, the Wolverines have since made big improvements and lead the region standings with a week left in the regular season.T RENTON, Ga. – Things weren’t very rosy for the Dade County High School baseball team a month ago.
Sitting at 6-6 overall after losing two consecutive Region 7-AA games, the Wolverines were at a crossroads. This wasn’t some young team trying to find its way. This is a senior and junior-dominated team coming off a second-round appearance in the 2017 GHSA playoffs that had high expectations under new coach Aaron Simmons.
But early on, uneven performances – mainly too many walks by pitchers and errors by fielders – had Dade’s postseason plans in serious jeopardy. The low point came in a 10-6 loss to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe on a frigid night in which the Wolverines committed five errors.
“We just weren’t a very good team at that point,” said Simmons, who had previous prep coaching success at Sequatchie County in Tennessee. “Defensively, we had to get better. A lot of the games we lost early were about getting behind batters and not making routine plays. We worked on that day in and day out, and we started turning things around.”
And what a turnaround it’s been. In the past four weeks, Dade has nine consecutive wins, eight of them in region play. The biggest was an 8-4 conquest of Rockmart, ranked No. 2 in Class AA at the time.