It hasn’t so much been an up-and-down high school softball season for Marion County as a down-and-up one.
The Lady Warriors, who started 5-8, were riding a 10-game winning streak into Thursday’s season finale and will be the top-seeded team in the District 6:A tournament, which they are hosting in Jasper. It’s one of three district tournaments involving area teams getting under way today. Districts 5-A, 5-AA and 7-AA began their tournaments Thursday.
Marion County’s rough start included losing all four games it played in Soddy-Daisy’s tournament Easter weekend. The Lady Warriors came up on the short end of a 12-11 score at Baylor.
Their next outing was a trip to Kingsport to compete in Dobyns-Bennett’s Eastman Invitational, where they won seven consecutive games before losing to Unicoi County, last year’s Class AA state champion, in the final. Coach Thomas Long said if he had to pick a turning point in the season it was when his team beat Knoxville Central 6-1 early in that tournament.
“Everybody hit well. Everybody was outstanding playing defense. Everything has seemed easier from that point on,” Long said.
One of the key factors in Marion County’s second-half success has been the work of the pitching staff, comprised of juniors Heather Richards and Kacie McClendon and sophomore Kelsey Thomas. The Lady Warriors, who lost junior Maisie Richardson to an ACL tear during the Soddy-Daisy tournament, have posted six shutouts in the current winning streak.
Richards said being a young team — first baseman Paige Durham is the only senior — it’s taken a while for everyone to gain trust in each other. It seems now when a finger is pointed at someone, it’s to acknowledge a good play.
Today’s district softball schedule(All times Eastern)* 5-AAA: Bradley Central at Rhea County, 5; Cleveland at Walker Valley, 5; McMinn County at Ooltewah, 6* 7-AA at Grundy County: Chattanooga Christian vs. Sequatchie County, 6; Grundy County vs. Bledsoe County, 8* 6-AA at Warner Park: Brainerd vs. East Ridge; Tyner vs. Red Bank, 5; East Hamilton vs. Hixson; Brainerd-East Ridge loser vs. Tyner-Red Bank loser, 7* 5-AA: Sequoyah-McMinn Central winner at Meigs County, 6* 6-A: Whitwell at Sale Creek, 5:30; Signal Mountain at Lookout Valley, 6* 5-A: Copper Basin at Boyd-Buchanan, 4
“They’ve all done a great job for us,” Long said of the pitchers. “When you’ve got a defense behind you, it gives the pitcher a little bit more confidence. They don’t feel like they have to thread the needle all the time.”
Catcher Hannah Layne was a key member of last year’s team, but the only Lady Warrior lost to graduation. They couldn’t have asked for a better successor than freshman Cassi Pickett, who coming into this week was leading the team in batting average (.531), home runs (5), doubles (17), RBIs (47) and walks (16).
“She’s also phenomenal behind the plate,” Long said. “She controls the defense and plays the game like a catcher should. She’ll go out and settle the pitcher down. She calls her own pitches 90 percent of the time. She has a good understanding of the game at a young age.”
South Pittsburg was the tournament’s No. 1-seeded team last year, when the Lady Warriors were in District 6-AA, and its season ended with back-to-back losses. Marion County (28-12) is hoping for a different fate.
“We just need to keep our heads up,” Richards said. “We know what we can do. Our goal is to be the best we can. We know how good we can be and how far we can go.”