The Avery Lady Vikings softball team made its first on-field appearance of the 2009 regular season in Rutherford County against the Lady Gryphons of Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy. The TJCA club avenged a 2007 playoff loss to the Lady Vikings by handing the Big Red a narrow 3-2 loss on Friday afternoon.Following a scoreless first inning, the Lady Gryphons got on the scoreboard, scratching across a single unearned run in each of the next two innings off Avery veteran starting pitcher Morgan Yackey. The Big Red thrower failed to give up a single hit from the circle while striking out 11 batters in a complete game effort. However, passed balls and a number of walks cost the Avery team valuable bases and eventual runs.
Avery narrowed the TJCA lead to 2-1 after the top of the fourth frame and tied the game at 2-2 with another run the next inning. Thomas Jefferson answered Avery’s second run by breaking the tie in the bottom of the inning, again without the benefit of a base hit.
The Lady Vikings attempted a rally to tie the game in their final at-bat of the contest in the top of the seventh, but left runners in scoring position to end the game.
“Overall, I was pleased with the effort we gave during the game, especially putting runners in scoring position in the last inning,” Avery softball head coach Merritt Yackey said following the contest. “It was the first time we had been outside on a softball field as a team to gage where we are and we were a little nervous.”
Aside from Yackey’s no-hit pitching effort, she was 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts and had a base hit and RBI. Lady Vikings senior shortstop Samantha Shook was 1 for 3 with a double and a run scored. A pleasant surprise for the Big Red was freshman left fielder Justina Reiger, who was 2 for 3 in the game with a run scored.
“Offensively we were okay and will improve by getting a lot of repetitions during batting practice. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will be able to do that,” Coach Yackey added. “Defensively we were good except on a couple of plays. Their runs came on passed balls and an error. Our catcher Sara Singleton made some very good plays throwing out runners when they attempted to bunt.
Despite the lack of practice opportunities on the field, the team learned from its opening experience on the diamond in 2009 and was disappointed that they could not take the win over TJCA. “I think we were all a little frustrated with appeared to be a shrinking strike zone as the game proceeded,” Coach Yackey stated. “We are looking forward to having an opportunity to play them at home in April as we believe that was a game we could have won.”
