Union softball coach Jacob Casey didn’t know what to expect out of his Lady Yellowjackets this season after returning just three players with any varsity experience.
But the Lady Yellowjackets beat Clarkdale 2-1 on Monday to finish second in Division 5-3A play and make the playoffs.
Union finished the regular season with a 15-0 loss to defending 4A champion Kosciusko on Tuesday.
The Lady Yellowjackets then bounced back from that loss to beat Tylertown 16-0 and 15-0 on Friday in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.
“I’m super proud of this group,” Casey said. “This is a big accomplishment. We lost five seniors, had another starter not play, another starter move to Newton County and another one quit before the season started. So we were extremely depleted. We played with 18 kids and only eight of those were high school kids and only three had any varsity experience. We were babies, essentially.”
Casey said he was most proud of the way his team battled in division play against traditional powers Clarkdale, Enterprise, Southeast Lauderdale and Morton.
“I’m just proud to get in because our district is so strong,” Casey said. “All four of those teams are really good team and two of them are sitting at home. Clarkdale was really good and their pitcher was really good. We were fortunate to get four hits off of her. We finished tied for second with a really young group. I can’t say enough about that. We have grown a lot this year with this really young group. The future is good and I just hope we can keep it going.”
Union will play Raleigh in a three-game series this week. Game one will be Friday at Raleigh at 6:30 p.m. with game 2 at Union on Saturday at 6 p.m. A possible game three would be Monday at Raleigh at 6:30 p.m.
Union 2, Clarkdale 1
The Lady Yellowjackets used a two-out rally to take a tight one-run game from the Lady Bulldogs and qualify for the playoffs on Monday in a game played at Enterprise.
Union scored two in the top of the third with two outs as Lauryn Roebuck singled and Alanee Wheeler followed with a single. Tiara Campbell then doubled off the center field wall to plate both runners and give Union a 2-0 lead. Clarkdale scored one run in the fifth as the Lady Yellowjackets held on for the win.
Wheeler pitched all seven innings to pick up the win, scattering three hits as she struck out nine.
Kosciusko 15, Union 0
After the big win on Monday night, the Lady Yellowjackets didn’t fare so well on Tuesday, falling to the defending 4A champions.
Kosciusko scored four in the first, one in the second, four in the third and seven in the fifth.
Union had just two hits a double by Alanee Wheeler and a single by Abigail Cleveland.
Cleveland also pitched all five innings against the Lady Whippets.
Union 16, Tylertown 0
The Lady Yellowjackets cruised to a game 1 win against the Lady Chiefs on Friday.
Union scored six in the first and 10 in the second inning.
D.D. Hunter led Union at the plate with a double and four RBIs while Abigail Cleveland had two singles and three RBIs. Tiara Campbell also had a home run for Union.
Alanee Wheeler pitched all three innings and struck out eight without allowing a hit, allowing just one baserunner on a hit by pitch.
Union 15, Tylertown 0
The Lady Yellowjackets again had little trouble with the Lady Chiefs as they completed the two-game sweep on Friday.
Union scored three in the first and 12 in the second inning.
Tiara Campbell had a single and a double while Lauryn Roebuck had a single and a double. Kaylee Holley also had two singles for the Lady Jackets.
Abigail Cleveland started in the circle and allowed one hit in three innings and struck out four to pick up the win.
