Liberty County High School’s softball team is looking to heal some wounds inflicted last weekend at the Warriors’ Blast Tournament in Glennville.
The Lady Panthers went 2-3 at the tournament, leading to a 4-3 overall record as this week began.
Liberty started the tourney with a 4-1 win over Treutlen on Friday. The Lady Panthers followed that with an 8-2 loss to Vidalia, a team Lady Panther softball coach Jerome Standard said is a top-notch opponent.
Standard said things were going well until Saturday’s game against Tattnall County. During that game, several of his starters suffered injuries, forcing a few to miss the remainder of the tournament.
Liberty still managed to beat Tattnall, 5-4, as Rachel Smith had three RBIs off a triple.
By the time the Lady Panthers played Bradwell and Southeast Bulloch, starters Kathryn Carter, Kaleigh Fisher, Cassidy Collum, Diamond Richardson and Riley Davis were sitting the bench.
“Cassidy Collum’s quad was strained, Diamond Richardson was run into and hurt her knee, Kathryn Carter’s knee was sore so she wasn’t able to play,” Standard said. “We have kids on the team that are playing on the junior varsity, but we are also letting them see some varsity time … they had to step up and play the remainder of the tournament.”
The Lady Panthers fell to Bradwell, 8-7, and to Southeast Bulloch, 14-2.
“Smith came out and pitched against Bradwell and Southeast Bulloch … she hasn’t had an opportunity to work on her pitching because that is not her role on the team, but she hung in there and played pretty tough,” Standard said. “Tia Anderson and Navia Telfair both showed that they can be varsity players.”
The coach added that Taylor Rine hit the ball well throughout the tournament.
Standard thinks most of his injured starters will return for Thursday’s home game against South Effingham. That game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
This weekend, the Lady Panthers will play in the Battle of the ’Boro Tournament. They play Dublin at
4 p.m. Friday and Statesboro at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, they play Heritage at 9 a.m.