“They were super excited, really upbeat, really wanting to win,” Lady Tigers coach Jessica Rivers said of her team.
Adairsville hung its head early but responded to Rivers’ words on the sideline.
“We played really well. They got a little down on themselves to begin with. … I told ’em just to keep their heads in the game,” she added.
It paid off for the Lady Tigers, who did not won a match last season.
Afterward, Adairsville offered some encouragement to the Lady Indians.
“When we played Chattooga, they saw that Chattooga dropped their heads,” Rivers said. “They want to help. They’re great girls [that] want to want to help.”
The Lady Tigers (2-0) return to the court Thursday with a home tri-match against Cass and Armuchee. Rivers would like to see the same kind of effort in Adairsville’s next outing.
“On Thursday, I’d like to see them play with the same intensity that they played tonight with,” she said. “I’m not expecting them to win every game and but as long as they play hard, [I’m satisfied].”
Sequoyah 5, Woodland 2
Woodland’s Lady Wildcats could not quite catch up to Sequoyah Tuesday in the region softball opener for both teams. The Lady Chiefs score their runs early and held on for a 5-2 win.
Casey Bucy pitched all seven innings in the loss while Woodland managed five hits at the plate. Jessie Michaels, Lacey Fritz, Bailey Roberts and Taylor Braselton (two) each had hits for the Lady Wildcats, and Michaels also added an RBI.
Woodland coach Colman Roberts tipped his hat to the Lady Chiefs’ pitcher.
“[Their] pitcher did a good job, kept us off balance. We gotta go back to work tomorrow and get ready for Northwest Whitfield,” Roberts said after Tuesday’s loss. “We gotta hit and bunt much better. [Our] approach at the plate, two-strike hitting and things like that, we just gotta get better [at]. I guarantee we probably had 14, 15 outs that were pop-ups. We gotta get better at that.”
Sequoyah scored a couple runs in the bottom of the first inning and led 5-0 after the second. The Lady Wildcats added their runs in the third and fifth innings.
Woodland (5-2) continues its road trip Thursday when it heads to Tunnel Hill to face the Lady Bruins, who are led by junior pitcher Emily Boyd.
“They got everybody back,” said Roberts, noting that Northwest Whitfield lost only a couple of players.
The game begins at 5:55 p.m.
Lady ’Cats split matches with Paulding County, Hiram
Woodland displayed some season-opening nerves Tuesday in its volleyball tri-match with Paulding County and Hiram, but came away with a split after beating the host Lady Patriots 2-0 while losing to the Lady Hornets.
“We looked [like we had] first-game jitters, as normal,” Lady Wildcats coach David Condon said.
Those jitters did not affect Woodland in its win against Paulding County. However, the Lady Wildcats could not carry on that momentum into their final match, especially after one of their players went down.
“Our No. 1 outside hitter got injured during warm-ups,” Condon said. “We did not play well against Hiram because of that.” The coach noted that the interconnectedness between his players made it hard for them to get back in the match.
Condon is not concerned about his team’s initial outing, though.
“We’ll get there. I’m not really worried about that,” he said. “The girls have a good attitude and they usually work hard, so we just gotta get back out there.”
Woodland (1-1) plays Thursday at River Ridge, where it also will face Creekview and Cherokee.
Lady Eagles drop season opener, 8-6
After holding an advantage for much of Monday’s road game, the Excel Christian softball team ran out of gas as Mount Paran stormed back for an 8-6 win.
The Lady scored six runs on seven hits while Mount Paran totaled eight runs on six hits.
Candace Bruno, Excel’s first-year coach, said her team led 6-0 at one point but had some errors late.
Lady Eagles’ starter Allye Ingram pitched a complete game, striking out six batters, and Emily Willingham went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer.
Excel (0-1) returns to the field Friday when it begins play in the Third Annual Temple Showdown. The tournament concludes Saturday.