Story and photos by Kailee Means:
The Upperman Lady Bees defeated the Stone Memorial Lady Panthers 14-2 Friday night in softball action.
The Lady Bee offense started off strong, racing out to a 3-0 first-inning lead. They then stretched the lead to 6-1 in the second. The Lady Bees had an explosive third inning as they expanded the lead to 12-1. UHS scored two more runs and allowed one in the fifth to secure the 14-2 victory.
“Tonight we weren’t as sharp as what we have been in games past, but that could be attributed to a lot of different things: hangover from a big win last night, really cold weather, was supposed to play at home and instead went on the road,” said UHS head coach Dustin Williams. “We don’t use those as crutches, but we came out and got the job done.”
Senior Leah McElhaney toed the rubber for the Lady Bees. The ace lasted two innings, allowing three hits and one run while striking out two and walking one. Senior Jaycee Sweeney led with two hits in three at bats. The Lady Bees stole seven bases during the game as two players stole more than two.
Freshman Camdyn Holbrook was on the rubber for the Lady Panthers. Holbrook surrendered six runs on one hit over one and one-third innings, striking out one. Junior Haley Dalton threw three and two-thirds innings out of the bullpen. Sophomore Bailey Dyer and senior Brannigan Cox scored runs.
“Leah McElhaney is a senior for us, she started a bunch of games in her career, she is pitching in a lot of big time games and she is our leader in the circle,” said Williams. “She did a tremendous job getting us started, once again she went four in the third innings last night, so she was coming off a really good start last night. Probably wasn’t as sharp as she normally is, but it was really cold out there today and it was really hard for her to find her release point. I was proud of her to dig down deep inside and go get her job done.”
The Stone Memorial Lady Panthers are set to take on The Lady Buffalos of Clarkrange at 5 p.m. on Monday night.
The Upperman Lady Bees will travel to face in-county rival Cookeville at 5 p.m. on Monday night.
“They showed up tonight and they could have had 100 different excuses tonight about the weather, it being cold, the snow and all the other things but they just showed up and played ball,” said Williams. “A lot of fundamental stuff to work on, it has been tough, we have not got a lot of practice time the last two weeks with the rain. We have been in the gym a lot and been in the cages a lot, but I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and working some really good fundamental work, at bats, in the field, and just continuing to grow as we get closer towards May in our season.”