The historic softball season for the Copper Basin High School Lady Cougars ended Thursday with a 6-0 loss to the Eagleville Lady Eagles May 21. However, the Lady Cougars enjoyed the ride every step of the way.
“It was one of the best seasons. Of course, not just statistically, but the girls had fun all season, and we did hit some lows and they just responded and came right back stronger than ever," Head Coach Lindsey Hyatt said.
"Just like in the district tournament, we lost to CSLA the first round, and then I think we won six games after that. And they just had a really good mindset and just were able to forget about what happened the day before and move forward and work for each other. And I think that's what made them get this far, is they just started doing it for each other and started having fun together and good things happened.”
Hyatt and her crew were 2-2 in the state tournament at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After losing the first game to Cloudland High School 5-4 May 19, Basin returned to win back-to-back games against Bradford High School 12-2 on May 20 and Cloudland again 10-0 on May 21 to reach the final four game with Eagleville May 21.
The first game with Cloudland was a back-and-forth affair. Basin led early 2-0 after one inning, then increased its lead to 3-0 after five innings. Cloudland rallied for four runs in the top half of the sixth inning to take the lead 4-3. Basin would score a run in the bottom half of the inning, but a single run by Cloudland in the top half of the seventh sealed it for the Lady Highlanders.
Lady Cougars Maggie Scoggins, Alexis Hyatt, Madden Beach, Kinsley Ross and Riley Akens each earned hits. Scoggins’ hit was a solo shot in the fifth inning. Beach had two hits and an RBI.
Kinsley Ross pitched six and a third innings and allowed only four hits and struck out eight. Caitlyn Pack pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up two hits.
The second game against Bradford was an easy one. Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, then Basin busted the game open with six runs in the second inning and four runs in the third inning. The game was called in five innings.
Basin had 11 hits. Ross was 2-for-3 with five RBIs. Both hits were doubles. Akens was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. She had two doubles. Beach had two hits and an RBI in three at-bats.
Kloie Ballew had a hit and an RBI also. Alexis Hyatt had two hits also. Caitlyn Pack scored three runs in the game, Maggie Scoggins and Hyatt each scored two runs, and Akens, Beach, Angela Graves and Maleah Deal each scored one.
Ross and Kallie Mosley combined for five innings of work. Basin pitching struck out six Bradford batters.
The third game shutout against Cloudland featured 10 hits. Akens had four hits in four at-bats including a home run in the second inning. She also doubled twice in the game and scored four times.
Hyatt had three hits with two RBIs. She scored three runs. One of her hits was a home run blast to left field in the first inning.
Ross, Beach and Ballew also had one hit each. Ballew and Deal also scored one run each. Ballew, Scoggins, Beach, Ross and Pack also had RBIs.
In the game with Eagleville, Basin was limited to two hits from Hyatt and Akens.
“I'm really excited that we came down here and competed with the teams instead of just coming down here and that being the end of it. And we really had a chance with every team that we were on the field with and even came back and run rolled the team that beat us on the first day.”
Basin finished the state tournament with 29 hits. “We hit the ball really well all week, even in the [last] game. We lost 6-0, but we had some really good hits in that game that just didn't get to the ground," Hyatt said.
Basin finished the historic season with 20 wins and the feeling is good for Hyatt.
“I think everybody kind of had a feeling this group would do it since they were little, but it was just really nice to see it play out. We're just gonna be itching to get back down there, especially these young ones before they graduate. We'll be trying to get them back down there,” Hyatt said.