Lady Eagles take first game of season series against Demonettes

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Northside Lady Eagles have not lost a softball matchup to the Warner Robins Demonettes since Aug. 7, 2017.

Wednesday night wasn’t the night to break that streak as they took home the win 10-1.

Kadence Cooley started on the mound for the Lady Eagles’ first game of the season, and boy did she deliver.

She pitched all five innings, only had a handful of walks and held Warner Robins to one run.

“She did a great job for us on the mound, I think she only had a couple of walks and several strikeouts,” head coach Travis Spell said. “That’s the key. If she’s throwing strikes our defense is going to be ready, she did a great job for us today. It was a good first win.”

Her first pitch went a little wild and sent Warner Robins’ Leanne Butts to first after getting hit in the ankle; but after that Allyssa Feagin caught the first out in left field, Warner Robins’ Taylor Alderman was thrown out at first, and Cooley finished the last batter off with three pitches.

Butts started on the mound for her second varsity game, but saw mixed results.

She struggled to find the middle of the strike zone, and often threw too high or too low which put a lot of Lady Eagles on base throughout the game.

When she did find the middle of the zone the Lady Eagles took advantage, like in the first inning during Audra Carroll and Morgan Lee’s back-to-back RBI doubles. Allyssa Feagin finished off the scoring in the inning with a three-RBI double hit deep into center field.

Having a 5-0 lead heading into the next several innings made Cooley much more comfortable on the mound. Spell stressed the importance of having a cushion like that early in the game.

“I think it’s highly important. [Cooley] did better when she had a lead, it’s always important,” he said. “Our batters got up and took advantage of the chances they had, and it was mainly our seniors. Our seniors had eight RBIs of the 10 we scored. It was a great job by our seniors, and they jumped on early.”

Warner Robins tried to claw their way back into the game, but only managed to score a run in the top of the third off of a Butts bunt that sent Kennedy Thomas home.

The Lady Eagles’ defense kept them at bay, and Cooley fed off of that in the final innings.

“I think it helps the pitchers when they’re out there giving their all, they see that their defense is giving their all and making great plays behind them,” Spell said. “It’s all about the team helping each other out.”

That’s one thing the Lady Eagles seem to excel at — having one another’s back.

Throughout the game they communicated through plays and kept each other’s heads up if they made a mistake. They also seemed to have fun, and often talked and laughed with each other in between innings.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in wins and losses while playing sports, and it’s even easier for players to get wrapped up in their own mistakes or the mistakes of their teammates when times are tough.

Having fun, according to Spell, is the goal of the game. Winning and losing comes with it no matter what.

“I think it’s always fun to win, but it’s even more fun just to play the game,” he said. “To me, any time you can get a win it’s great; but as long as you have fun being out here, for me as a coach, that’s the most important thing.”

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