Dickson County softball has had a rough start to the year.
Now 4-7-1 on the season, they are clearly still figuring a lot out.
That being said, they picked up a good win Tuesday night hosting former district foe Independence.
The Lady Eagles brought a lot of talent to the Hill including star third baseman and Missouri commit Ryan Brown.
Jayla Miller and Brown both began the game with singles to put themselves in a good position at first and second.
Then Miller went to steal third and Dickson County catcher Bella Blackwell overthrew Annabelle Ellis and the ball sailed into left field.
That scored Miller, as left fielder Sadie Green’s throw home was also offline and Brown would advance to third.
Brown scored on a sac fly by the following batter and the Lady Eagles took a 2-0 lead.
At that point, it looked like it might be a long afternoon for the Lady Cougars.
However, they never seemed phased by it.
Maturity and patience reigned supreme as they ground away at the deficit.
Alexia Hoskins settled in and ended the game with eight total strikeouts.
Independence would fail to score again.
Meanwhile, Head Coach Bert Newberry and his staff trusted their bats.
The Lady Cougars were not struggling to make contact against the Lady Eagles, they just were not finding gaps and holes early.
Hard hit balls kept ending up in gloves.
Good contact over seven innings though always pays off.
It would do just that in the bottom of the fourth.
Jenna Russell would reach second base on an E5, an overthrow from the third baseman Ryan Brown to first.
Avery Graham would help the cause by wearing a pitch and taking her base in the next at-bat.
With runners at first and second, Lola Shelton did a job and hit into a fielders choice to move both runners over.
Then came the contact payoff.
Bella Blackwell stepped to the plate with both runners in scoring position and scorched a two-RBI single opposite field down the first baseline and under the right fielders’ glove to the wall.
Dickson County would carry that momentum at the plate into the fifth where with one out Lily Proctor absolutely crushed a ball into the gap for a triple.
Libbie Wilson would hit into an RBI fielder’s choice to score Proctor and the Lady Cougars would tack on two more runs with three straight singles from Ellis, Russell, and Graham.
Hoskins would complete the comeback by inducing two groundouts and a strikeout in the top of the seventh.
It was a mature and patient comeback by a team that needed one to go their way.
The Lady Cougars now look to start a streak.
They host Waverly, and another great talent in Esther White, on Thursday at 5 pm.
Come out and catch a two-for-one night on the hill as baseball will also be hosting Rossview at 7.
