The Recorder on May 16, 2024
BY MARK PIFER • STAFF WRITER
Summit Community Bank and Highland Farm Bureau teamed up to provide pizza for the Rams following their last game of the season. (Photo courtesy Jessica Liller)
MONTEREY — Jeff Wood and Charlie Padgett agree.
The two coaches are looking forward to the next few years of softball at their respective schools.
Here last Thursday, Highland completed an 11-3 junior varsity season with a 9-1 win over Bath County.
The teams saw a lot of each other this spring, with the Rams winning three out of four games. Three of the four games were decided by three runs or less.
In the season finale, the hosts put up two runs in the third, four more in the fourth and three in the sixth to secure the victory.
Sarah Liller pitched the win, striking out three, while giving up just five hits. The Ram freshman didn’t walk a batter.
Colleen Adams joined Liller with two hits for the winners and Peyton Neil, Kristina Neil and Emma Brower all had one. Addison Lockridge walked three times and scored three runs and Adams scored twice.
Annah Moyers and Adelaide Baxter provided the Rams with some big defensive plays in the outfield.
Ram Emma Brower, left, slides across home plate ahead of the tag effort from Charger catcher Embrie Hazelwood.
Trinity Forbes, Georgia Watkins, Kiana Williamson, Caleigh Hazelwood and Ava Whiddon had hits for the Chargers. Whiddon scored the Chargers’ run in the third inning.
Cassidee Nicely pitched for Bath County, striking out eight and walking nine.
The Chargers split a home doubleheader with Eastern Montgomery last Tuesday, losing the opener 9-3, before a 7-4 victory in the nightcap.
Nicely pitched game one, striking out six, while Williamson had a double.
In game two, Forbes, an eighth-grader in her first year pitching, checked the Mustangs on four hits and struck out one in the circle.
Nicely and Williamson had two hits each.
The Chargers closed the season with a 4-12 record overall and a 3-10 mark in the Pioneer District.
Padgett was in his first year with the BCHS program and was hired to be the varsity coach.
“I was hoping for a varsity schedule this year, but with only having 10 players and three of them being eighth graders, that wasn’t going to happen,” Padgett said. “The ones that we had stick it out were a joy to coach. The willingness to work hard and want to improve is all a coach can ask for. It’s good to be around a school with players that are willing to work and get along with each other. Looking forward to next year.”
Charger coach Charlie Padgett said his JV girls were a “joy to coach” this year.
At Highland, the Rams put together a 10-1 district record, and finished the season on a five-game win streak.
“Last year we were 4-6 and this year I was really hoping to go .500,” said Wood, the Rams’ coach. “I have five players that have never played, ever. So, we definitely exceeded my expectations by a lot. I’m super proud of them.
“Both of my pitchers that pitched this year (Sarah Liller and Peyton Neil) were both ninth graders,” he added. “When Sarah got hurt, Peyton came in and pitched. She pitched 11 innings in a doubleheader at Narrows and we won both (games), which was huge.”
Wood is hoping that the program can field a varsity team in the next couple of years.
Highland JV coach Jeff Wood has been leading on crutches after suffering a leg injury recently. He said his Ram girls exceeded his expectations this year. (Recorder photos by Shelley Thomas)
“This year we had so many eighth graders and they can’t play varsity,” he said. “I’m thinking year after next we should be able to play (varsity).”