By By Steve Swogetinsky / special to The Star
September 15, 2004
For Newton County, the term 'big win' really doesn't go far enough to describe what the Lady Cougars' 8-1 victory over Clarkdale Tuesday night meant at this point in the season.
"We needed this in the best way," said first-year head coach Justin Chaney. "To come over here and get a win on the road could not have come at a better time."
Only last week, Chaney saw his team drop a Division 5-3A game to Southeast Lauderdale and then on Saturday lose to county-rival Union for the second time this season. At that point, the Lady Cougars found themselves two games below .500.
"I have said we were going to keep working hard, win or lose, and our girls have done just that. It all paid off tonight," Chaney said. "I feel like we turned a corner. Clarkdale has one of the best teams in the state. We showed we could play with the best."
Coupled with an 18-6 division win over Forest on Monday night, the Lady Cougars now stand at 8-8 overall and 5-3 in the Division 5-3A.
Newton County took control of the game with five runs in the top of the fourth. With bases loaded and one out, Joni Seal's sacrifice fly brought in Kasie Buckley. Two more runs scored on an error and then Ashton Benson knocked in a pair to make the score 5-0.
It appeared that Clarkdale was ready to answer the challenge when Ashley Bye stepped up and hammered a solo homer to start the bottom of the fourth. But Newton County held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless the rest of the way while adding one run in the sixth and two in the seventh.
The Lady Cougars outhit Clarkdale 14-7, but more troubling for the Lady Bulldogs were the six fielding errors they committed on defense.
"I think we may have peaked out," said a disappointed Clarkdale coach Rick Roberson. "This team hasn't played the same since we beat New Hope. I don't see the desire or the consistency that we had.
"We'll see. We have a long way to go, but right now, we have reached our high water mark."
Laura Blackburn, Buckley, Melissa Robinson and Benson all had two hits to lead Newton County. Whitney Drachenberg paced Clarkdale with two hits.
Chassidy Smith was the winning pitcher.
Clarkdale falls to 16-3 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs are to host Enterprise on Thursday, weather permitting. Newton County is off the rest of the week and will play at Enterprise on Monday.