The Upperman Lady Bees opened the 2021 softball season in impressive fashion with a 16-1 win over Monterey in three innings.
The Lady Bees got balanced offense down the lineup and strong pitching as the rolled to the season-opening win.
“I was proud of our girls,” said UHS head coach Dustin Williams. “We hit the ball really hard all day long. We played pretty good defense behind (our pitchers). We were able to do what we needed to do to come out and get a win on day one.”
Senior Reagan Hurst opened the game with a triple for UHS, Morgan Green then hit an RBI sacrifice-fly to give the Lady Bees a 1-0 lead.
Leah McElhaney then struck out two out of three MHS batters in the bottom half. The UHS offense then exploded for 11 runs in the fourth inning with the help of a two-run homerun by Mel Pride to take a 12-0 lead.
The Lady Cats got their lone run in the bottom half of the second with an RBI by Mariah Bilbrey. The Lady Bees added four more runs in the third as the game ended after three due to the score margin.
After an unconventional offseason, Williams said he was pleased with his team’s start.
“No matter what aspect you look at in this unprecedented time, you’re going to have question marks,” said Williams. “We played one game last year, so a lot of these girls haven’t played high school softball in two years… It’s been a difficult challenge. Everybody’s facing it so no pity-party for us. I was really pleased about what we did. We came out loose and focused..”
Molly Sparks pitched all three innings for the Lady Wildcats. Serenity Nolan added a hit.
McElhaney pitched two innings for Upperman, allowing zero hits, one earned run and two walks while tallying four strikeouts. Hurst pitched the final ending, allowing one hit and striking out three batters.
Williams said he has several pitchers he likes in McElhaney, Hurst and Allie Jennings, and they are figuring out their rotation early in the season.
“Our plan was to pitch everyone one time through the lineup,” said Williams. “I think we have a three-headed monster. For us, we’re going to have to find out how that works… to give us that most advantageous position to be successful.”
The Lady Wildcats opened the season at 0-1 with the loss and will look to rebound.
The Lady Bees (1-0) will open District 8/AA play Tuesday when they take on Smith county at 4:30 p.m. in Carthage.
Photos by Noah McKay:
