Dragonettes Win On Senior Night

Monday afternoon brought the Southeast Whitfield Lady Raiders to Jasper for a play in playoff game of sorts against the Dragonettes of Pickens High School.  Coach Sarah Pinson and her team had to goals they wanted and needed to accomplish with this game.  The first was to get the victory to advance to the region tournament for a head to head match up with the Northwest Whitfield Lady Bruins on Tuesday.  The second was to recognize the 7 seniors that have led and supported the Dragonettes on and off the field during their high school careers.

Participating in their last home game of the 2018 season and their high school careers, These 7 have gave all they have for the school that have prepared them to forge ahead in life, sports and a career path.  Ellie Abner, Katherine Densmore, Allie Tlacil, Hattie Baker, and Hannah Fields have taken the field proudly .  Jacob Kirchoff(statistician) and Thomas Pinson(Manager) also dedicated their day to keep both the team and fans equipped to maintain and be informed on the Pickens softball program’s schedule and scores.  Each Player was introduced with their families and the accomplishments, memories and future endeavors were highlighted.  Tears for friends lost too soon and laughter for Thomas being locked in a room by a player filled the senior ceremony.  Congratulations to all 7 seniors and best wishes in your futures.

The game held just as much excitement as the preparation and enthusiasm for the senior recognition.  The Lady Raiders were basically shut down by the Pickens pitcher.  Sarah Morris entered the circle to dominate the opposing batters.  Allowing just 1 run in her 7 innings of work, Morris had a long ball find the backside of the fence in the fourth inning off the bat of  Lillie Phillips of the Lady raiders.  Morris had 8 strikeouts with 5 hits and hit one batter on 95 pitches.  The defense behind Morris committed 1 error on the day. Offensively for Pickens the first run on the day came with a Senior Allie Tlacil double putting herself in scoring position.  After advancing to third on a Chloe McPherson ground out, Tlacil scored on a 2 out single by Senior Katherine Densmore for the 1-0 Dragonettes lead.  Southeast tied the game in the fourth on a solo home run to right center field.

With the game moving into the bottom of the sixth Assistant Coach Bernard told his girls that we will not play extra innings so now is the time.  Let’s win it right now.  With that the Pickens batters stepped up and completed the task given by their coach.   Monica Hughes reached on a 1 out single followed by single off the bat of Senior Hannah Fields.  With runners on first and second, the next batter popped out leaving the RBI opportunity up to Tlacil at the plate.  On a hard ground ball single Hughes was able to score from second to give Pickens the lead that proved to be enough for the win.  The Dragonettes didn’t stop and added 2 more insurance runs on a line drive double by Sarah Morris.  Closing out the game in the top of the seventh, the Lady Riders went in order as the defense turned a perfectly executed double play.

Three seniors had excellent days at the plate for Pickens.  Allie “Tacklebox” Tlacil led the way going 3-4 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. Hannah Fields(senior) and Monica Hughes were both 2 for 3 with 1 run scored.  Senior Katherine Densmore and Sarah Morris both had RBI’s in the game as well in the victory over the Lady Raiders of Southeast Whitfield.

Next up will be a double header at Northwest Whitfield on Tuesday for a chance to move forward in the post season region tournament.