Silverdale’s pitcher Bita Cox winds up for the pitch
photo by Joy Fisk
It may be a little early yet to begin calling Silverdale’s softball team a dynasty, but after two state championship wins in a row, they certainly are the team to beat. Today’s 9-0 game between Silverdale and Notre Dame, ending early in the fifth inning, emphasized the fact that the Seahawks are a triple threat. Not only do they have great pitching by star pitcher Bita Cox but also strong defense and strong hitters too.
Notre Dame only got one hit in against Silverdale the entire game and had four errors, but rather than being frustrated at their inability to hit, they seemed confident on the field and were clearly enjoying the game.
This may be due to the coaching style of their new coach, Damieon Brown, who emphasized after the game that he wanted his girls to have fun. Coach Jackie Freelend of the Seahawks also emphasizes the fun factor with her players.
While the Fighting Irish may have struggled with their hitting tonight, the Seahawks were just hitting their stride, with nine hits and nine runs for the game. For the first three innings of the game Silverdale doubled their runs from the prior inning, scoring one run in the first, two in the second, and four in the third. Third base player Jaliyah Whitaker started the momentum with a homerun on a fly ball to left field. Braylee Raby homered again the same way in the second inning, followed by Macie Williams hitting a single that allowed Giana D’amico to score.
The third inning saw the most action for the Seahawks with two runners, Heidi Bryant and Elianna Phillips, scoring on the same error by Notre Dame, Kenslee Stiner scoring on another Notre Dame error with Giana D’amcio at bat, and then Braylee Raby scoring for the second time in the game when Macie Williams singled on a fly ball to the center fielder.
While it is potentially intimidating to play against a back-to-back state champion, Coach Brown said he told his team before the game to “Just be calm. Do the basics. Keep the ball in front of you. Don’t be scared. Be in the moment.” They seemed to do just that despite their lack of success at the plate.
The Fighting Irish’s pitcher Kaylee Pendergrass, said after the game, “I think our team did much better than we have been. We were very confident.” But she also recognized what they needed to focus on: “Practice on our hitting. We had a tough batting day today.”
Jaliyah Whitaker acknowledged that “Notre Dame has gotten better from last year.” And while the Seahawks may have secretly known they were going to win tonight’s game, they almost never go into a game cocky, realizing that at any time they could have a bad night and their opponents might have a good one.
Reacting to tonight’s loss, Coach Brown said, ““I think they had fun-incremental growth- that’s all it is for us right now- incremental growth.”
This is the Seahawks’ second overwhelming win in district play this week, winning against Grace on Tuesday 17-0 in another short game; that game only went to three innings. Next week they play rival Boyd on Tuesday.
Coach Freelend was glad for the win but also sober about what it will take to “three-peat” in Murfreesboro again this year. “I think it was a great overall team win. There were a lot of hits throughout the line up. Our defense played well, pitching did well. So I think overall it was just a good team win.” Thinking of the season ahead, she said, “We obviously have a lot to improve on. But we can just keep getting better and doing little things to win.”
NOTRE DAME 000 00- 0 1 4
SILVERDALE 124 2x – 9 9 0