The Ladyskins Softball summer league team have been playing rather consistently through the month of June. Coach Kim Covington, who is also the regular season head coach, likes what she has seen thus far.
Covington acknowledges the loss of graduating seniors Meredith Shuman and Kari Groover, but emphasized the fact that they only lost two which is less than many of their competitors. Covington said the summer action has reinforced her suspicions that the Ladyskins are on the verge of a successful forthcoming regular season.
"Things are going very well," said Covington. "I’m seeing a lot of the things I want to see. The younger girls are stepping up nicely and fulfilling my expectations, and the girls who have been there are showing them the ropes. Meanwhile, our rising seniors are stepping nicely into captain positions."
The Ladyskins kicked off its season June 5 at Southeast Bulloch High School. With serious weather threatening on the horizon, the two teams managed to put four innings on the book before further play was cancelled.
The Southeast Bulloch pitcher quickly found her mark and retired eight Ladyskin batters on strike outs before being relieved in the fourth inning by H. Denmark. The Ladyskins could never quite catch up to the SEB pitcher and was only able to put one hit on the book, a single by Meghan Shuman, before umpires called the game giving SEB the 5-0 win.
The Ladyskins returned home June 7 to face Trinity Christian at Hendrix Park in a two game, five inning double header.
The Ladyskins recorded 42 runs in two games as the Trinity pitchers struggled to place a clean strike across the plate. Samantha Howard pitched both games for the Ladyskins and held the Trinity batters to only two runs in both games. Ladyskin batter Bridgett Bacon slammed a grand slam in the park home run in the second inning of the first game and Tara Miles recorded the same in the second game.
Leading batters for the Ladyskins in both games included Samantha Howard with four singles and 4 RBIs, Tara Miles who had three singles and a double in addition to the home run. Bridgett Bacon who had a single in addition to her home run.
Meghan Shuman had three singles and a double with 5 RBIs. Rebecca Horton recorded two doubles with 4 RBIs and catcher Lindsay Seger had two singles. Taylor Stanfield had a double before the Ladyskins won two games at 21-1 each.
The Ladyskins did not fair as well against Vidalia High School losing both games in the double header. Ashley Barfield was the Ladyskins’ pitcher in the first game of the match-up and recorded six strike outs before the Skins were shut down 0-7.
Samantha Howard took the mound in the second game and recorded 8 strikeouts before the Skins fell 0-8. The Ladyskins could not manage a single hit in the two games.
Portal High School was the sight of the next Ladyskins’ match-up. The first game of the series found Samantha Howard on the mound for the Skins and she struck out six Portal batters before the Ladyskins fell to Portal 4-1.
Ashley Barfield took the mound for the Ladyskins in the second game between the two teams. She struck out six Portal batters while the Ladyskin offense stretched their lead to gain the win 2-1.Thursday June 21 Pinewood Christian Academy traveled to Hendrix Park for a double header. The Ladyskins offense was led by Tara Miles whose three run homerun helped to give the Skins a one run lead that held for the 6-5 win. The second game was a hard fought battle but the two teams but Pinewood would manage to score two late five inning runs that would secure them the win of 3-2.
The Ladyskins are traveling to Mill Creek Park in Statesboro Tuesday to face Statesboro High School and will travel to Tattnall County Thursday for the last game of the season.
