Westfield softball begins hunt for 10th consecutive state championship, coach reflects on season opener

PERRY — There are not many, if any, softball programs in the state who do it like Westfield.

The Lady Hornets started their quest for a 10th consecutive state championship on Tuesday, and although it was a 6-0 loss to Tattnall Square Academy, they look like they have the bones for another run.

Lindy Hair opened the contest with three strikeouts, and the defense went three-up-three-down in the first three innings.

But a five-run, fifth-inning surge from the Lady Trojans put them in the hole for good.

“I thought the first innings went really well. We had a base running mistake in the bottom of the fourth inning that they doubled us up [on] and we let them carry that momentum into the fifth inning,” said Westfield head softball coach Ryan Wetherington. “It was Lindy’s first outing, I thought she did really, really well. I think she got a little gassed in that fifth inning … but I got confidence in her that her stamina is going to get better.”

Hair walked two of her first three batters in the fifth, and an error at first base loaded the bases for Tattnall.

Hair earned her fifth and final strikeout on the ensuing at-bat, but a two-RBI double and Reese Covington’s three-run bomb over left field followed it to put the Lady Trojans ahead 5-0. They added one more run in the seventh.

“When you do that in one inning, it’s tough to keep them from scoring,” Wetherington said.

The main problem was the offense, which was 5-for-25 on the day.

Westfield didn’t have a problem getting on base in the early going, but they struggled hitting with runners in scoring position. For Game 1, Wetherington thinks his team is starting from a good spot.

“Overall I thought Lindy did well. I thought our defense did well. The biggest thing is we got to do a better job at putting the ball in play,” he said. “I think we might have had four hits, two of them I think came with two outs. It’s hard to put a decent inning together when your first hit of the inning comes with two outs.”

He admitted, too, that with the level of success the Lady Hornets have enjoyed, also comes the pressure of expectations.

“Everybody knows what we’re trying to accomplish. There’s always pressure there with regards to what we’ve done traditionally here as a program, to try to maintain that,” Wetherington said. “We take each game as what it is, a game that we can try to go out and compete and try to get better … I told them [today], ‘Yeah, it sucked that we lost, but it’s Game 1, not Game 30. It didn’t knock us out of the playoffs.’ We have a lot of time to work and get better.”

The pitching staff is a group that is going to require the most time and effort.

“[Lindy Hair has] gotten a lot of innings throughout her career with us here … I think she’s one that we’re probably going to be leaning on pretty heavy,” Wetherington said. “But we got some younger girls. Reese Tinsley came in after Lindy today, she’s only an eighth grader … [Eighth grader] Karli Peaster, she caught today, but she’s probably going to get several innings for us this year … We got several different arms that we can go to, a lot of them are young.”

Tinsley pitched 2.2 innings of one-run ball to go with two strikeouts.

“[They will have to] get out there … and figure out what it takes to be successful at the varsity level,” Wetherington said. “I think they’ve got it. I think they’ve got the mindset. I think they got the skill level, everything they need to be successful.”

“It was Game 1. We got a lot of work to do, a lot of things we can improve on … we’re right where we need to be,” Wetherington said.

UP NEXT

Westfield will travel to David Emanuel Academy on Aug. 6 at 5 p.m. for their first road game of the season.

Tattnall’s home opener is on Aug. 6 at 5:30 p.m. against Bulloch Academy.