The ups and downs of trying to mold a high school softball team for postseason play were epitomized in Monday’s regular-season game when Walker Valley beat Central 5-2 at Central.
The host Lady Purple Pounders had tied for third place in the Gold bracket in the Lady Trojan Invitational this past weekend. Their 2-0 loss to Soddy-Daisy was the closest any team played the host team during elimination play.
Earlier in the year the Lady Mustangs won the Brentwood Invitational, but that was followed by a 10-0 home loss to Soddy-Daisy. They played in Riverdale’s tournament over the weekend and went 3-4.
“They knew we needed a win,” said Walker Valley coach Chris Doan, whose team is now 12-10-1. “We let too many get away this weekend. We just didn’t always play seven solid innings.”
Central coach LeeAnee Shurette said her team had been building on the foundation set early in the season but called Monday’s loss “a good lesson.” It didn’t matter that Central (13-7) outhit the Lady Mustangs 9-4.