Bryan County’s softball team hasn’t developed as quickly as Coach Jessica Schroeder-Cooper would like because of weather, either rain or heat, which has curtailed practice and the playing of games.
Nevertheless, following Tuesday’s 14-0 win at Calvary Day, the third-year coach said she is seeing signs of growth in her young team which has only one senior, standout center fielder Emily Johnson.
“We lost a tough game at Metter, which was a makeup game, on Monday night,” Cooper said. “The score was 7-0, but it was a much better game than the score indicated. It was 2-0 after five innings. It wasn’t as bad as it looked.
“So, to come back here and win like this was big for us,” Cooper said. “We needed that.”
The Region 3AA win lifted the Redskins (4-3, 2-2) over .500 and moved them into third-place in the region standings. St. Vincent’s Academy is also 2-2, but Bryan County owns a 13-1 win over SVA.
However, region standings are somewhat meaningless in that only the region champion is guaranteed a spot in the state playoffs. Realistically, Metter (6-4, 4-0) and Screven County (6-2, 3-1) are expected to battle it out for the No. 1 spot.
Playoff spots are now determined by the Post-Season Rankings, i.e., power rankings. The top 32 teams qualify. Going into this week, the Redskins were 36th overall, but 29th among public schools as seven private schools are ahead of them. The private schools have their own tournament.
The Redskins will be looking to get back-to-back wins for the first time this season when they host Savannah Christian (1-3, 2-6) at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Weather permitting, Bryan County will play three games in as many days next week starting with a home game against Liberty on Tuesday and playing at Tattnall County on Wednesday before hosting Screven County on Thursday.
“Metter and Screven are the top dogs,” Cooper said. “Right now, we’re fighting for third and doing what you’ve got to do.”
Against the winless Cavaliers (0-8, 0-4) it was a matter of the Redskins taking care of business, and they did so in an efficient manner with everyone in the lineup contributing.
Bryan County led 5-0 after three innings, added five in the fourth, and made it a mercy rule ending with four in the fifth.
Lila Hannah pitched a five-hitter, and the Cavs were unable to mount any scoring threats against the junior right-hander. Calvary’s first two hitters singled to start the game but Hannah settled down quickly, striking out the next two hitters before Johnson garnered a lazy fly ball to end the threat.
“The bottom of the lineup got us off to a good start,” Cooper said. “The top of the order struggled a little bit with the velocity but the bottom part just singled, singled, singled, had some passed balls, etc.”
That trend continued throughout the contest as the Cavs got mercy-ruled for the fourth time this season. It was Bryan County’s third mercy-rule win.
Bryan County sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning for five runs to erase any doubt as to the eventual outcome. Chloe Good had a two-run single and Johnson an RBI double to lead the way.
The fifth was a repeat only this time 10 batters hit with Johnson and Cale Good getting RBI singles. The Redskins had the bases loaded when the final out was made against a porous Cavalier defense.
“Our biggest improvement has been in our softball IQ,” Cooper said. “Being able to get in games and practice has helped. We’ve been rained out, lightened out and wet-bulbed out. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“But, we’re getting better every game,” Cooper said. “We have better awareness on the base paths and situational awareness. They’re growing and maturing.”