Hiwassee Dam – When Lady Eagles head coach Roger Adams met with his team at the beginning of the season, one goal came to mind: win.
Any team in any sport can claim that as a goal, but Hiwassee Dam has backed it up so far this season. After beating Swain County 17-0 on Friday, the Lady Eagles are 5-0 for the first time since 2016.
“They want to win and win and win,” Adams said. “That’s what they wanted. As coaches, we told them we’d do everything we can, but at the end of the day it comes down to them, and they’re showing it. They want to win every game that they have a chance to win.”
It’s been an impressive start for Hiwassee Dam, as the Lady Eagles have mostly overwhelmed their competition so far. Besides a 9-8 win over Copper Basin, Tenn., Hiwassee Dam has won its other four games by at least seven runs and has scored nine runs or more in each of its first five games.
Against the Lady Devils (0-6 overall, 0-4 Smoky Mountain Conference) the Lady Eagles’ bats got going early again. The first three batters reached on back-to-back walks and a hit by pitch before Olivia McNabb hit a two-run double to left field.
Payton McNabb scored on a wild pitch to give Hiwassee Dam a 3-0 lead. Allison Stiles brought home two more on an RBI single, and she would come around to score on an RBI single by Sky Taylor.
Hiwassee Dam continued to test Swain County pitcher Kandyce Crisp in the second inning. The Lady Eagles scored five more runs before Crisp was pulled for Hannah Shuler with one out in the bottom of the inning. Prior to this game, Shuler had pitched all but ⅔ of an inning for the Lady Devils this season. Hiwassee Dam would score one more run in the inning to take a 12-0 lead.
“What I’m loving is that our swings are just getting consistent,” Adams said. “We’re getting better at pitch selection.”
With the bats going, Hiwassee Dam made some solid plays in the field too. After Maddie Spates singled for Swain County in the top of the first, Savana Smith grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Adams started inserting subs with a big lead, and reserve Alexis Totherow ran down a fly ball in center field in both the fourth and fifth inning.
That was more than enough for Lauren Brooks, who bounced back with a six-strikeout shutout after struggling against the Lady Devils on Tuesday. In that one, a 9-2 Hiwassee Dam win, Brooks walked five in two innings, before Olivia McNabb threw five scoreless innings to finish the game.
“I told her today, I’d love to see that Lauren for the rest of the season,” Adams said. “She was awesome, absolutely awesome today.”
The Lady Eagles would add two in the third and three in the fourth to put the game into mercy rule. The competition hasn’t
been great yet, but Adams sees his team getting more confident and building chemistry. Hiwassee Dam was loud in the dugout throughout the game, cheering for good plays at the plate and defensively even when the game was well in hand.
“They are very excited,” Adams said. “At the games you can hear them cheering in the dugout, hooting and hollering, very excited when anything big happens. It’s just regular stuff, people making plays. The bench is supporting the starters, and when the subs go in the starters support them.
“Like I said, they’re just so connected together.”
Hiwassee Dam played at Andrews on Monday, the results of which were not available until after this week’s edition of the Cherokee Scout went to press. The Lady Eagles host Cherokee on Thursday.