Lady Mavs’ offense is in high gear

March 30, 2022 by Richard Evans

Reece Miller takes the circle for the Anderson County High School Lady Mavs. (photo:Richard Evans )

Last Thursday, Anderson County won its home opener against Oak Ridge 17-2 in five innings.

The Lady Mavs took the early lead when Lankford reached on a lead-off walk and stole second. She scored on an RBI double by Henderson. Freeman then drove in Henderson with a base hit to give Anderson County a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Wildcats scored a run in the top of the third to cut the Lady Mavs’ lead to 2-1 but Anderson County answered with eight runs in the bottom of the inning.

Miller led off with a single and stole second. She scored on a base hit by Henderson. Freeman then singled to advance Henderson to third. Freeman stole second and Hannah Hooks then walked to load the bases. Horton then singled to score two more runs. McKamey later drove in two with a base hit. Bullock then reached second on a throwing error, allowing McKamey to score. After a wild pitch moved Jaylynn Bullock to third, Lankford drove her in with a base hit.

Oak Ridge scored a run in the top of the fourth, but again, the Lady Mavs had a strong answer as they plated seven runs to put the game out of reach. The inning was highlighted by a three-run homer by Freeman, who finished 3-4 with a home run and four RBI.

Henderson was 3-4 with a double and four RBI. Lankford was 2-3 with three RBI while McKamey and Bullock each had two RBI. Horton and Miller each drove in a run as well.

Russell said he was pleased with the offense and the pitching in the win.

Simpson got the win as she pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Last Friday, Anderson County traveled to Hixson for the Hixson Wildcat Classic and picked up two wins in the opening round.

The Lady Mavs beat Stone Memorial 17-4.

“They’re a pretty good team,” Russell said. “They made a bunch of errors and their pitcher struggled with a lot of walks and helped us out.”

The Lady Mavs scored seven in the first inning and never looked back as they added four in the second, one in the third, and five in the fifth.

Henderson, Hooks, and Lankford each hit a home run. Henderson was 3-3 with a home run and four RBI. Lankford was 1-1 with a home run and three RBI. Hooks was 1-1 with one RBI.

Simmons got the win as she pitched four innings and allowed no earned runs on three hits while striking out six.

In the second game of the evening, Anderson County beat East Hamilton 9-5.

“They’re really good. They only had one loss coming in and they’ve got three or four college commits,” Russell said. “We hit the ball well and put pressure on them and they made a couple of errors. We were able to hold them.”

The Lady Hurricanes opened the game with three runs, but the Lady Mavs answered with two in the bottom of the first. They then exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second to go up 9-3. East Hamilton added two runs in the third but that was as close as they could get.

Simpson got the win as she went four innings and allowed no earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts with four walks. Simmons and Henderson each went deep for Anderson County. Henderson finished 1-1 with a home run and three RBI. Simmons was 1-2 with a home run and an RBI.





Lankford finished 2-3 while Miller, McKamey, and Bullock each added a hit.

The chilly wind Saturday cooled the bats of the Lady Mavs as they dropped two games early in the day.

They fell to Christian Academy of Knoxville by a score of 3-1.

The Lady Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third but Anderson County tied it in the bottom of fourth when McKamey singled in Reece Miller.

In the top of the fifth, CAK scored two runs and held on for the win.

Simpson took the loss in the circle as she pitched five innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

The Lady Mavs mustered just three hits - the RBI single by McKamey along with base hits by Lankford and Horton.

In the second game, Anderson County fell to Soddy Daisy 4-0.

Soddy Daisy scored three in the top of the first and added a run in the top of the fourth.

The Lady Mavs were held without a hit as the Lady Trojans allowed no base runners via error or walk.

Simmons took the loss as she pitched five innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits with one strikeout and two walks.

“We’re a team of Jekyll and Hyde right now, big time,” said Russell.

On Monday, the Lady Mavs traveled to William Blount and won a slugfest over the Lady Govs by a score of 10-8.

The Lady Mavs went up 2-0 in the first inning only to see William Blount take a 4-2 lead in the third. Anderson County responded with three runs in the fourth to go up 5-4 but the Lady Govs refused to go away and battled back for two runs in the bottom of the inning to reclaim the lead at 6-5.

The Lady Mavs tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the fifth but saw William Blount surge to an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the inning.

The see-saw affair ended in the top of the sixth when Anderson County plated three runs to take a 9-8 lead. They added an insurance run in the seventh and held the Lady Govs scoreless the rest of the way to get the win.

Simpson got the win. She pitched five innings and allowed eight earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Henderson was 3-4 with a home run and four RBI while Simmons was 3-4 with a double and three runs scored.

Horton was 2-4 with three RBI and McKamey was 2-2 with a double and two RBI.

“We’ve got to get more consistent with our pitching. It’s literally batter by batter, inning by inning. That’s just part of it. It’s early in the year. Hopefully, we’ll find a consistent rhythm sooner or later,” Russell said.

The Lady Mavs visit Oliver Springs on Thursday at 6 p.m. They will play at Heritage on Friday at 5 p.m. and at Farragut.