Murphy – It was a Dockery family affair Thursday in the Lady Bulldogs’ softball team’s March 10 home opener against Franklin.
After coaching his kids in middle school, Billy Dockery took over as the varsity head coach this year. He also has two daughters, Riley and Julia Dockery, on the squad.
In the first inning, Riley, a junior, hit a two-run homer over the left-field fence to put the Lady Bulldogs on the board for 2022. Then in the sixth inning, Julia, a freshman, smacked a solo shot over the center-field fence, putting the exclamation point on her varsity debut.
It couldn’t have gone much better, as Billy Dockery picked up his first win as the varsity head coach with a 5-0 win over Franklin.
“Coaching varsity and seeing both of them hit a home run, that was real special,” Dockery said. “There’s not a lot of people who get to experience what I’m going through right now.”
Murphy returns six starters and only lost three seniors from a team that went to the Elite Eight last year. But those three seniors were also the best players, including Annie Kate Dalton, who is now playing softball at the University of North Carolina. It’s a small and young group, too, with just 11 players on the roster and one senior.
“This year we got several who are growing into that position that ain’t there but they’re going to get better,” Dockery said. “Jersey (Schwalm), Riley (Dockery), Ansley (Hogsed) I think those three are going to grow into that position and carry this team.”
A smaller team means everyone has to play a role, and that showed against the Lady Panthers (10-3). After N.C. State commit Tori Ensley led off the game with a single for Franklin, Abby Carpenter’s line drive was caught by Ruby Boehm, who fired Reagan Peterson at first base to get Ensley for a double play. Julia Dockery led off the bottom of the first with a single, then scored on her sister’s home run two batters later.
After Schwalm retired the first two Lady Panthers’ batters in the top of the second, she loaded the bases before striking out Ensley to end the inning. Carpenter walked to start the third, and Avery Moffitt followed by lifting a fly ball into right center. Sanai Wilson ran down the ball, making a sliding catch for the first out of the inning. From there, Schwalm allowed just one Franklin batter to reach base after six reached in the previous two and one third innings.
Schwalm threw all but one inning for Murphy last year as a sophomore and will have a heavy load again this year. She threw all seven innings against Franklin, giving up just four hits and two walks while striking out five in a complete-game shutout.
“She takes a minute to get calmed down out there,” said Riley Dockery, who plays catcher, “especially with a team like this. But she’s really good at that and has been really good at that since she was little.”
An RBI single from Julia Dockery in the bottom of the fourth extended Murphy’s lead to 3-0. After leaving the bases loaded in the fifth, the Lady Bulldogs scored twice on Dockery’s home run and a Schwalm RBI single.
The Lady Bulldogs struggled in a scrimmage against Hiwassee Dam on March 4, but Billy Dockery said his team improved a lot from that contest to this one. There may be ups and downs with a young team and players growing into new roles on the field and the dugout. However, it’s one that has potential.
“We’re growing together,” Dockery said. “And I think we’re going to be a dangerous team.”