By: Railey Ayers and Britanny Bowden

On Thursday, the Crenshaw varsity softball team redeemed themselves against South Montgomery County Academy after falling short to the Raiders a week ago.

Eighth grade pitcher Raegan Lawrence led the Cougars to a 9-3 victory. Lawrence threw eight strikeouts, and no walks in five innings. The Cougar defense aided Lawrence, holding the Raiders to only three runs.

Sixth grader Abby Henderson finished the game by throwing the final two innings. After allowing the Raiders to take the lead momentarily, the Cougars bats were hot. After two essential hits, the Cougars took the lead in the second inning. Freshman Anna Lowe scored three of the Crenshaw’s nine runs.

Lawrence lead the team with three runs batted in, and junior Abby Taylor added two.

“Hitting the ball and running the bases well was only part of our win,” said Taylor. “We all played with heart, and came out hustling.”

Crenshaw overcame injuries including Abby Taylors’ strained rotator cuff, and senior Railey Ayers’ torn ACL.

Ayers and Taylor started at first and second base, respectively, but Ayers was moved to shortstop and Taylor to second after an early injury to senior Katlyn Gamble. Despite being vulnerable, the defense committed no errors.

The Crenshaw Cougar baseball team ended the previous week with a 7-1 win over 3A powerhouse Bessemer Academy, and they plan to build around the success over the remainder of their season.

After throwing a perfect game, senior Cade Calhoun took the mound again to face a much larger Bessemer Academy. Calhoun, who has given up 10 hits all season, held the Rebels to one run.  The Cougar defense claimed no errors, and Crenshaw’s bats boomed as Junior Clayton Hester batted in three of CCA’s seven runs.

“We play our best games when we keep errors down, and hit the ball,” Hester said. “The stats don’t lie. If we play as well as we know how, nobody in 1A, 2A, or 3A should beat us.”

The contribution of CCA’s stats to their 6-0-region record is undeniable.  The batting average among starting Cougars is .460. Senior Cole Roper leads the team in batting averages and RBI in with a .525 average and 23 RBI.  Following Roper is Hester’s 13 RBI, and junior Ben Archie’s batting average of .479.

“Our biggest challenge is beating ourselves,” Archie said. “We have to play our game and stay on track.”

“Baseball is a mental game. We have to relax,“ Hester said. “The biggest challenge is making it to Patterson field for the state championship, but that’s our goal. We need to prove ourselves as an obvious choice for the number one seed going into the playoffs. If we do everything right, we’ll be there.”