Photo: Hernando softball coach Nicki Whitten talks with her team at the end of a practice session Friday. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
It’s all about the numbers right now, as far as the Hernando High School softball team is concerned. Those numbers are: 1, 2, 18, 18-0, and 1-0.
The number one, as in number one-ranked among Mississippi 7A fastpitch softball teams. The number two is the Lady Tigers overall ranking, behind George County. Eighteen is Hernando’s national ranking, according to the national high school sports service Maxpreps. Hernando is ranked 18th in the nation. 18-0 is the team’s current record before Saturday’s game at Des Arc, Arkansas, and 1-0 is the record coach Nicki Whitten wants her team to be most concerned about after every game her Hernando team plays.
“That’s what we kind of preach to our kids,” Whitten said. “We want to be 1-0 every time we play. They’ve bought into that and that’s what we preach before every game.”
This far into the season you might think a team is playing pretty well with an unbeaten record, but Whitten thinks her team still has more levels to show.
“I’m really proud of how this group has been playing and practicing and I know this may sound crazy, but I don’t think we’ve seen our best ball, yet,” she said. “That’s awesome because you want to be playing your best ball right before the playoffs.”
Throwing out some more numbers, junior Macie Dever Boaz has been leading the Lady Tigers before Saturday’s game with a .604 batting average and a .648 on base percentage. Dever Boaz also has five home runs and 32 stolen bases for the team.
Another junior, Callie Desmond, has a .980 fielding percentage and is second in home runs with three.
“Callie Desmond has been playing about as consistently as you can find,” Whitten noted, still adding that it’s been someone new stepping up each game for her team.
“As far as offense and defense, honestly, it’s been like a different kid every game and it’s not necessarily been one person that’s carried the team,” she said. “It’s been somebody different every game, which you want as a coach. When they all come together and everyone has a good night, then you’re playing some really good ball.”
Some teams need to depend on one particular pitcher, but Whitten said she has a four-pitcher staff together and that has been a strength.
“I think our pitchers are throwing strikes and we actually have a pitching staff that’s a real blessing to have,” Whitten said. “We have four that we have been rotating, between Kate Johnson, Haylee Jackson, Olivia Skinner and Maddie Sowell. They’re buying into being a pitching staff and they’re just really playing well together.”
Jackson leads the team with 30 strikeouts, Skinner, a freshman, is not far behind with 26.
Last year’s 7A championship series loss to Northwest Rankin has stayed around as a reminder of the next step the Lady Tigers need to take.
“Losing it last year I think really lit a fire into this group,” Whitten said. “They’ve been playing with a different mentality.”
After Saturday, Hernando will have Region 1-7A games against Oxford and Lewisburg, but mark Saturday, April 5 on the calendar. That’s when the Lady Tigers are scheduled to take on the aforementioned George County at Hernando in a battle of the top two teams in the state.
But again, it’s all about the numbers and the number 1-0 at the end of the season is all that really matters.
SCOREBOARD
Friday, March 28
Prep baseball
DeSoto Central 15, Horn Lake 0 (4 innings)
Oxford 10, Lewisburg 0
Northpoint Christian 12, Germantown, Tenn. 0 (4 innings)
Hernando 17, Southaven 0
Saltillo 14, Olive Branch 2 (5 innings)
Center Hill 4, Lake Cormorant 3 (11 innings)
Prep softball
DeSoto Central 12, Tipton-Rosemark, Tenn. 2 (5 innings)
Center Hill 23, Independence 2
Northpoint Christian 10, Munford, Tenn. 0 (6 innings)
