Young Lady Mavs show resilience despite stiff tourney competition
Lady Mavericks freshman Addison Grooms was in control in the circle for the ACHS girls in their home matchup against Maryville. (photo:Dwayne Wilder )
ACHS opened the new campaign at the Bash at the Beach in Panama City, Florida.
They faced some tough competition and went 0-4 in the Sunshine State.
Anderson County opened the tournament against North Bay Haven Academy, and came up on the short end of a 13-0 decision on Monday, March 11.
In that game, the Lady Mavs committed six errors and managed just two hits.
Kaycee Baldwin, the Lady Mavs’ center fielder and leadoff hitter, went 1-for-2 with a walk and three stolen bases, while Alexis Siebers was 1-for-2.
The Lady Mavericks played an opponent from East Tennessee on March 12 and were edged 6-5 by Greenback.
They were again shaky on defense, committing six errors against the Lady Cherokees, who opened a 5-0 lead after two innings.
Anderson County pulled to within three, at 5-2, with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. They plated three more runs in the sixth before the Lady Cherokees tallied the winning run in the bottom of the frame.
Freshman shortstop Marlea Findstad doubled and scored against Greenback. She also drove in three of Anderson County’s runs
Baldwin singled and scored twice, and Siebers had two hits and an RBI.
Later in the week, the Lady Mavericks played another team from the Volunteer State and dropped a 16-2 decision to Science Hill out of Johnson City. Ella Varner had a hit and Baldwin stole a base for the Lady Mavericks, who closed the tournament with an 11-2 loss to Wewahitchka on Thursday.
Baldwin and Findstad each went 1-for-3. Both doubled in the contest, and Findstad drove in a run.
While the losses were rough to take, ACHS Coach Allen Russell isn’t panicking just yet.
“We’ve still got a lot of learning to do,” he said. “We have to learn to adjust to the speed of the high school game.
“All of our mistakes are extremely correctable,” he said. “The competition there was tough.
“We should’ve beaten Greenback. Otherwise, we were outmatched. I have six or seven freshmen in the lineup at any given time and hopefully, we’ll continue to learn and get better every time we step on the field. It’s nothing to worry about.”