It’s softball time again and Dodge County is expected to field strong teams at the middle school and high school levels. The Lady Indians bring back a strong nucleus from last year’s region championship season. Despite losing eight starters to the high school team, the Lady Warriors are expected to be strong as they have the strong 11 and 12-year old state champions team. They have four returning players from last year’s undefeated team.
The Dodge County High School (DCHS) Lady Indians softball team began their season on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 by traveling to Toombs County. The junior varsity (JV) only completed three innings due to weather and was leading four to one when the game was called for time limit. The varsity team was only able to complete one full inning, leading one to zero when the game was called.
The Lady Indians participated in the Cherokee Classic last weekend. Dodge played against AAAAA and AAAAAA competition during the event. Dodge split the four games, as they were all tight. The weather, as expected, was not good, but Dodge did play through it.
On Friday and Saturday, August 16 and 17, the varsity team traveled to Woodstock for the Cherokee Classic tournament. On Friday, the Lady Indians faced North Paulding High School and after seven innings the score was tied at two each. The game went into “International Tie Breaker (ITB)” where a runner is placed on second base. After six innings of ITB play or a total of 13 innings, the Lady Indians lost to the Wolfpack eight to seven. Katie Selph pitched 12 innings and Haley Holloway came in and pitched the 13th inning.
Saturday, August 17, the Lady Indians began the day against the Paulding Patriots and came away with the win and a score of seven to five. Holloway pitched four innings and Lizzie Massingill came in for the close and the win. Annie Moore had three sacrifice bunts, a single and one run batted in (RBI); Maddie Mullis had two singles and a triple; Margaret Simmons had two singles and a sacrifice; Nikki Graham had a single; Lila Coleman had a single; Holloway had a single and Faith Manning had two singles.
In game two of play on Saturday the Lady Indians took on the Morgan County Bulldogs. With the rain against the Indians, Dodge had trouble holding onto the ball. After the third inning Dodge was losing nine to one. But the fourth inning brought life to the Lady Indians. Dodge had singles from Coleman, Simmons, Lauren Belflower and Selph. Claire Greer had a single and a double in the fourth with three RBIs putting the Lady Indians in the lead with a score of 10 to nine. The Bulldogs went on to win the game in the seventh inning, 15 to 12.
The final game of play was against the 5-AAAAA Etowah High School Eagles. The Lady Indians defeated the Eagles with a score of four to three. Simmons and Coleman each had two doubles and one single; Greer had a double and one RBI; Mullis had a single; Massingill had a single and a triple and Selph was the winning pitcher.
All three pitchers pitched during the four games. All pitched real well during the tournament. “We worked on our bunting and did real well on Friday,” according to coach Amanda Mullis.
The Lady Indians will face Bleckley County, Telfair County (JV), Washington County and participate in the Brawl in the Fall this week.
The home opener for Dodge will be on Friday, September 6 as they host Thomson at 5:00 p.m.