Youth serves early wins for Skyhawks’ softball

Posted: Friday, February 17, 2012 12:00 pm

Donley Canary, the head softball coach at UT Martin, said he did a lot of experimenting this past weekend with his Skyhawks in the Southeastern Louisiana Lions Classic in Hammond.
The Skyhawks won three of five games in the three-day tournament that was delayed the first two days by rain. The Skyhawks claimed a 6-4 win over Kansas, a 5-3 victory over Nicholls State and a 9-1 decision over Southern.
Senior pitcher Chelsea Jones threw complete games to earn the victories in all three games. Senior Jenny Bain came through at the plate with a .563 batting average as she drove in eight runs. Bain also hit a double and her first home run of the season.
Both Jones and Bain were honored Monday by the Ohio Valley Conference. Jones was named the league’s Pitcher of the Week, while Bain picked up the Player of the Week accolade.
“We had a lot of positive things happen,” Canary said.
Bain and Jones were just part of the bounty in the opening weekend. As a team, the Skyhawks hit .333 with 13 extra base hits including four home runs. Senior Erica Duke hit two of the homers. Junior Leah Taylor added a triple to her stat sheet.
“A lot of those positive things came from our young players,” Canary said. “Lauren Smith, Lindsey Feigl, Kayla Wade, Morgan Lewis, Kenzi Tate and Casey Vincent did a good job this weekend.”
The six players Canary mentioned are either freshmen or sophomores. Tate and Vincent came through for the Skyhawk skipper in the circle, while the rest made their presence known at the plate with their bat. Lewis hit a homer and drove in three runs, while Wade had three hits and a double.
“Now we are looking for more pitching help from our younger players,” Canary said. “Overall this was a good tournament with good competition.” Published in The WCP 2.16.12