Lady ’Cats continue rebuilding year
The struggles continued for the Oak Ridge High School softball team last week.
The Lady Wildcats lost five games, including three district contests.
They haven’t found their way into the win column since March 25.
But first-year head Coach Jeremy Gill is attempting to stay upbeat despite his team’s long losing streak.
“It’s really hard to motivate them when you go through something like this,” Gill said of his team.
“But they’re not quitting. They’re not giving up, and I’ll give them that,” he said.
“I knew we would be rebuilding, and I knew it was going to be tough, but I thought we would’ve won more games than we have.
“We’ve got four games left on the schedule and then we’ll head into the district tournament,” he said.
“We have some winnable games this week, and then the girls are going to play in the summer and get better there.”
On Thursday, the Lady Wildcats (3-17 overall, 1-8 in District 3-4A) were swept in a doubleheader by Powell.
Oak Ridge lost to the Lady Panthers 7-1 in the opener in Northwest Knox County.
The Lady Wildcats dropped the nightcap, 15-0.
In Thursday night’s opener, ORHS had five hits.
Kaylee Hickman went 2-for-3, while Morgan Perry, Makenzie Miller and Eden Hatmaker each had hits in the contest.
Brenna Bradshaw walked and scored.
Miller drove in the Lady Wildcats’ lone run of the day.
“We played pretty well and scored a first run against Powell,” Gill said.
In the second game, Oak Ridge managed just one hit, a single by Perry.
On Wednesday, April 17, the Lady Wildcats made another trip to Knox County.
They outhit Knoxville Catholic 9-8, but came up on the short end of a 4-0 decision against the Lady Irish in West Knoxville.
Perry went 4-for-4 for Oak Ridge, which stranded multiple runners on base and had an inning where it loaded the bases with nobody out and came up empty.
The Lady Wildcats were also turned away in an inning where they had runners on second and third with no outs.
“That seems to be the story of the whole season,” Gill said.
“We had the bases loaded with nobody out and we couldn’t even get a groundball to the right side.
“We didn’t even need a hit, we just needed a groundball out, and we couldn’t even get that,” he said.
“Sometimes in that situation, you have to work harder not to score. It’s just been tough.”
Hickman had two hits against Catholic.
Miller, Bradshaw and Cambrie Hixson also collected hits for the Lady Wildcats.
In the circle, Hickman pitched a complete game as she went six innings.
She gave up four runs, eight hits and two walks. She struck out seven.
Oak Ridge hosted Knox Central on Tuesday, April 16, and lost the district contest 13-6.
Hixson went 1-for-3 and drove in two runs, while Bradshaw was 1-for-3 with three walks and two runs scored.
Perry went 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Hickman was also 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
On Monday, April 15, the Lady Wildcats dropped a 12-8 slugfest against the Lady Lions, collecting four doubles.
Taylor Hensley was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI and a run scored.
Hixson doubled, drove in two runs, and scored another.
Perry doubled, stole a base and recorded a run and an RBI.
Hatmaker doubled and recorded a stolen base, a run and an RBI.
