Hiwassee Dam – Though it wasn’t quite the week Hiwassee Dam wanted, the Eagles are still in contention for a berth in the state playoffs after falling to Copper Basin, Tenn., 11-7 on April 23 and splitting a doubleheader with Robbinsville on April 24.
“Three games in two days is just fatiguing for the guys,” head coach Tommy Strickland said. “Especially taking a hard one against Copper Basin and then going and knowing you’re playing two five-inning games, it takes your normal game and compresses it to start with.
“So the pressure is just unbelievable for them when you’re playing a doubleheader like that. But they worked hard, they had good attitudes about it.”
The Cougars (5-8 overall) scored seven runs in the top of the first against Hiwassee Dam, who never got closer than three runs the rest of the way. The Eagles wanted to save their best pitchers for the conference games the next day, and Abel Penland made his varsity pitching debut against Copper Basin, while Cole Elliott and Luke Harbin made their second appearances of the season.
In the first game against the Black Knights (7-11, 4-6), Clay Davis set the tone on the mound, pitching all five innings while allowing just four hits and striking out six in a 9-3 win. An RBI single by Evan Hedrick and bases-loaded walks by Trenten Beavers and Davis
gave Hiwassee Dam (5-11, 4-6) a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but Robbinsville would tie the game at 3-3 in the fourth. The Eagles stormed ahead with six runs in the top of the fifth, with Dalton Kester’s bases-loaded hit-by-pitch scoring the go-ahead run.
With Hedrick nursing an arm injury, Hiwassee Dam used Tanner Taylor and Dawson Headley to get through game two. Even after that game, Taylor and Headley have pitched less innings combined for the Eagles than Hedrick this spring.
The Black Knights scored three in the top of the second to get on the board, and the Eagles rallied for two in the third and one in the fourth, with a potential rally in the fourth stopped after Penland was thrown out at home. Ethan Orr added an RBI triple in the fifth for Robbinsville, who shut the door on Hiwassee Dam in the bottom of the inning.
The Eagles played Cherokee (2-15, 1-9) on Tuesday and travel to the Braves on Thursday. Hiwassee Dam entered the week as the projected No. 30 seed in a 32-team 1A West bracket, so the goal is simple.
“The only thing that we can do in terms of that playoff spot is to win our games against Cherokee,” Strickland said. “Anything else that happens is not up to us. We have to win our two games, then go from there. But that’s all we can do.”
Kevin Hensley of The Graham Star contributed to this report.