As season openers go, the lessons Whitwell's softball team learned Tuesday evening could carry over throughout the rest of the season, possibly all the way back to the state tournament.
Despite falling behind by four runs in the first inning, the Lady Tigers battled back to score in each of the last four innings, rallying for a 6-4 nondistrict win at Red Bank.
"We showed an awful lot of heart tonight," Whitwell coach Rebecca Castle said. "Nobody gave up and we just kept fighting. It's just the first game, and we've got a long way to go, but this is something we can build on."
Red Bank sent nine batters to the plate in the home half of the first, collecting four singles - including RBI hits by Zoe Helms and Hailey Hanks - and a pair of walks, Taylor Petty's bringing home a run.
But Lady Tigers senior pitcher Anna Yell settled in after that, scattering three hits the rest of the way and never allowing the Lady Lions to threaten again.
Yell, a Cleveland State signee, also got Whitwell's offense going with a leadoff double in the fourth, later scoring her team's first run. An inning later, she plated a run with a double and Caitlin Rollins followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to just one run.
"I think that first inning was mostly nerves," said Yell, who struck out five and walked just two over the final six innings. "We haven't even been able to go outside to practice much because of the weather, so today just felt good to be out there getting to play as a team.
"As a senior I tried to keep calm, and I knew I needed to help get our bats going."
The Lady Tigers kept chipping away and eventually took the lead on Layla McEwen's two-run single in the sixth, then added an insurance run in the seventh on Hadee Hedrick's fielder's choice.
Yell finished 3-for-4 and Rollins was 2-3 at the plate.
"Anna showed a lot of senior leadership - in the dugout, on the mound and at the plate," said Castle, whose team is breaking in an entirely new group of infielders after reaching the Class A semifinals last year. "She settled herself and the rest of the team down after that first inning and did what you expect her to do."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis