Callaway hoping to find region success this week
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 20, 2016
HOGANSVILLE – They’re hoping for better fortunes the second time around.
The Callaway Lady Cavaliers began their region softball schedule by playing Lamar County and Heard County, and they ended up losing those two games by a combined score of 22-2.
This week, Callaway will get another shot at those teams as it looks to improve on its 1-2 Region 5-AA record.
Also this week, LaGrange and Troup will continue to make their way through the grinder that is the Region 5-AAAA schedule.
Troup plays two region games this week, while LaGrange will play four, and two of those games will be at home against Cartersville on Saturday.
Callaway began its region schedule at Lamar County on Aug. 30, and it was a tough day.
In a seven-inning game, the Lady Cavaliers managed just three hits and they struck out 17 times in a 6-0 loss.
Sophomore Oeisha Jenkins threw well for Callaway and also had a double, but the hitters were mostly unable to figure out Lamar County’s pitcher.
“We haven’t seen anybody throw that hard, so there’s a little bit of an adjustment,” Callaway coach Ashley Summerlin said following that game. “We just have to do a better job at the plate. We have to make people make plays.”
Later that same week, Callaway was at home against Heard County for its second region game.
The Lady Cavaliers scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a Skylar Rice double and they were hoping they’d be able to hang in there, but it was the Lady Braves pulling away for a 16-2 win.
“I thought Oeisha threw the ball really good,” Summerlin said. “We didn’t play good enough defensively. We do it every day in practice. We’ve got to carry that over to the field.”
After this week, Callaway will have three region games remaining, including one against Temple, and two against Jordan.
Callaway handled Temple 10-1 for its lone region victory.
For LaGrange and Troup, it has been a difficult journey through the region schedule.
It’s a region that features some of the state’s elite squads including Central-Carroll, Cedartown, Chapel Hill and Cartersville, and each of those teams has a lock-down pitcher.
LaGrange and Troup have each won two region games this season, one against each other, and the other one against Sandy Creek, which is bringing up the rear.
Troup will have two tough assignments this week.
After hosting Cedartown today, Troup will end the week with a game at Central-Carroll on Thursday.
The first time around against those teams, Troup lost to Cedartown 12-3, and it fell to Central-Carroll 7-0.
In the Central-Carroll game, Troup struck out 22 times in seven innings and didn’t have any hits.
Troup (8-10 overall) is 2-7 in the region, and it has three region games remaining in the regular season.
LaGrange, which lost to Newnan 13-0 on Monday, will visit Sandy Creek today before hosting Chapel Hill on Thursday.
LaGrange then plays a doubleheader against Cartersville on Saturday as it wraps up its regular-season region schedule.
LaGrange (5-18 overall) is 2-8 in region play.
LaGrange and Troup will both participate in the region tournament at the conclusion of the regular season.
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports