Hensley’s arm, bat leads Dogs over Swain County

    Murphy – Senior Dawson Hensley was the spark whenever the Bulldogs needed it Friday against Swain County. He had three timely hits and pitched the last four innings in Murphy’s 6-3 win over the Maroon Devils.
    “Right now, he’s the spark that lights the fire,” Bulldogs head coach Adam Clonts said. “Everyone feeds off him. When he’s doing well, everyone else is doing well.”
    Hensley likes to keep things loose in the dugout, cracking jokes and making sure everyone else has the right mindset. After seeing how tense his team was in the loss to Hayesville on May 14, he made sure they were in a different mindset.
    “Before the Hayesville game, everyone was intense, nobody was joking around,” Hensley said. “Now I’m just making sure they’re laughing, smiling, having a good time.”
    Hensley brought energy whenever he made a good play. After each of his three hits and the two runs he would score, he would bring his fists close together, flex his biceps and scream, “Let’s go!”
    That energy was needed after a somewhat challenging start to the game. Murphy pitcher Isaac Cole struggled with control, walking seven and hitting another batter in just 2²∕3 innings. Cole battled through command in the first, giving up just one hit, but never really found it the next two innings.
    After Hensley’s RBI single in the bottom of the first inning gave Murphy (5-1 overall, Smoky Mountain Conference) a 1-0 lead, Cole got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second. He walked the bases loaded to start the third, and came close to working out of a jam again after a strikeout and a game-tying sacrifice fly from Damian Lossiah.
    But Cole hit Will Jenkins and walked Lawson Woodard to give Swain County (3-4 overall, Smoky Mountain Conference) a 2-1 lead. Hensley would help Murphy tie the game in the bottom of the inning, getting a two-out single and scoring on a Caleb Allen hit.
    Cole Laney, who relieved Cole in the third, walked Cooper Hyatt to start the inning, and Clonts summoned Hensley to the mound from left field. Once again, he stepped up when his team needed him.
    Before he even threw a pitch, Hensley stepped off and fired a dart to Briggs Cornwell at first, picking off Hyatt. Though the Maroon Devils would score in the inning to take a 3-2 lead, they wouldn’t score again.
    “When we need that guy to come in to throw hard and throw strikes, we bring him in,” Clonts said. “He throws hard, he intimidates the other team. Just his presence on the mound helps our team overall with our confidence.”
    As Hensley dominated in the mound, Murphy’s bats finally woke up in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs to take a 6-3 lead. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Hensley once again answered the call, crushing a go-ahead, two-run double past Hyatt in centerfield.
    In a season where the Bulldogs haven’t been able to put it all together yet for a variety of reasons, Hensley was the straw that stirred the drink in Friday’s win. Now, he hopes that carries over to his teammates at the halfway point of the condensed, conference-only regular season.
    “Right now I don’t think we’re giving it our all,” Hensley said.