The counting of wins and scoreboard watching become serious now for Bryan County as the softball season heads into the home stretch.
The Redskins remained in the mix for a playoff spot when they held on for a much needed—must really—9-7 Region 3A-DII win over Screven County last Thursday at Redskins Field in a game which left Coach Jessica Schroeder-Cooper seeking out a hiding spot in the dugout in the seventh inning.
Closing out games has been a problem for Bryan County this season. Cooper estimates her team has lost six to seven games in the sixth and seven innings including region games with Metter and Screven County where they led by two runs going into the seventh.
Last week was another good example when Bryan County led Statesboro, 3-0, after six only to see the Blue Devils rally and wind up a 5-3 winner in eight innings. That was followed by region losses to No. 1 and defending state champion Emanuel County Institute (6-1) and No. 7 Metter (11-3) last Tuesday.
Those results only added to the pressure of facing a Gamecocks team which has been ranked among the state’s top 10 for most of the season.
Although taking a 9-6 lead into the seventh was no guarantee it made for a lot of nervous chatter when Screven, which had just scored twice in the sixth, had one run in and the bases loaded with one out.
“To be honest I couldn’t watch,” said the effervescent Cooper. “At one point I went into the (dugout) bathroom. We’ve lost too many games like this.”
Sophomore Lila Hannah had come on in the sixth in relief of starter Eris Deal with two on and no one out and managed to get through it by allowing only the two runs. Nerves appeared to be taking over, however, in the seventh when she walked the bases loaded.
An infield single plated one run but Hannah righted the ship by striking out Dee Washington and getting Kellen McMillan to ground out to Deal at first.
The win kept the Redskins (9-9, 4-4) in a battle with Portal (7-6, 5-4) for fourth-place behind ECI (15-2, 10-0), Metter (8-5, 7-2) and Screven (8-6, 6-4) going into this week’s games.
Bryan County played Long County in a non-region game on Monday and played at Jenkins County (5-8, 2-7) on Tuesday with a game at Claxton (2-7, 1-7) on Thursday. The Redskins play at Portal on Sept. 25.
“I think we have to win at least seven region games to have a shot at the playoffs,” Cooper said. “We’re not in a position to take anything or anyone for granted.”
The Redskins got a great start against Screven, jumping out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Bryan County needed to see only six pitches to get its three runs on four hits. Liz Harvey singled to lead off the game, Cam Parker doubled her home and scored on Emily Johnson’s double and after Deal grounded out sophomore catcher Peyton Scott singled to score Johnson.
Screven bounced back with four runs in the second but Bryan County tied it on Deal’s single and then went in front on Harvey’s two-run single in the third. The Redskins added a run in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Scott led a 13-hit attack with a double and three singles while Harvey had three hits. Parker and Johnson also had a pair of hits and each reached base in all four plate appearances, Parker drawing two walks and Johnson on two of the Gamecocks’ five errors.
“The story of the last few weeks is to finish the game, find ways to get the last six outs,” Cooper said. “That’s been the goal: to get the last six outs before they come back.
“We had a bit of a slump the last week and a half or so but we’re hitting the ball,” Cooper said. “Tonight, we kept our hands really well on the ball,” Cooper said. “I told them after the game they had smart, mature at bats.
“We were driving the ball back up the middle which is a tough task to do,” Cooper said. “We had five or six hits that were hard hit ground balls back up the middle. That’s stuff we’ve been working on in the cage.”