Hiwassee Dam – Despite the Eagles baseball and Lady Eagles softball teams’ opening games Friday both getting postponed, both are ready to get their season going when Mother Nature finally cooperates.
For Hiwassee Dam baseball, it’s year two under head coach Tommy Strickland, who guided the Eagles to a 7-13 record and fourth-place finish in the Smoky Mountain Conference last year. That was the program’s most wins in a season and first state playoff appearance since 2015.
“It makes a difference coming back for a second year,” Strickland said. “Because you already have that base of players that know what you’re about. There’s a lot less rebuilding because the players know the system, and they’re able to help the younger guys fit into it.”
Hiwassee Dam only graduated one senior from an extremely young team last year, and will be young again this year with only two seniors. But the Eagles welcome back 10 players who got significant playing time last year, including All-Conference honorable mention selections in senior Evan Hedrick and junior Clay Davis. The duo were the Eagles’ best pitchers last year, and should see a lot of time on the mound this year as well.
Hiwassee Dam also welcomes back another senior in middle infielder/pitcher Tanner Taylor, and Strickland thinks junior Kyle Taylor is underrated as an outfielder. Sophomore Trenten Beavers returns behind the plate, while juniors Dawson Headley and Colton Berrong both return to the starting lineup as well.
Like last year, Strickland doesn’t have a win-loss goal in mind, just to improve.
“Much like last year, we want to be better,” he said. “We want to get better. I don’t have any win totals in mind to shoot for. Obviously as many as we can but we want to improve every game and want to improve from last year. We just have to fit all that together.”
Hiwassee Dam opened its season Tuesday at Towns County, Ga.
The Lady Eagles are looking to build off a 13-4 season and second-place conference finish, and return six starters from last year. That includes returning All-Conference players in seniors Payton McNabb and Kiera Taylor, who will serve as captains this year alongside fellow senior Allison Stiles.
Sophomore Olivia McNabb is also back, and will take an even bigger role in the circle with the graduation of Lauren Brooks while remaining a key cog in the middle of the lineup. Head coach Roger Adams said he’s expecting sophomore Sky Taylor to take another step forward after starting at second base last year, and has been impressed with freshman Brinkley Payne’s bat so far in practice.
While he’s still looking to replace the three seniors from last year, he has been impressed with the level of intra team competition.
“This team here is really good with supporting each other and lifting each other up, yet still pushing each other,” Adams said. “I’m expecting to have an exciting year.”
Hiwassee Dam opened its season Tuesday at Franklin. The senior captains have set a goal of having a deeper playoff run than last year, something Adams knows starts with being consistent from game to game.
Against most of their schedule last year, the Lady Eagles bludgeoned teams with a potent lineup. They weren’t as successful on days when their offense struggled to get going.
“We’ve got to find ways to win,” Adams said. “Last year, we struggled a little more on the mental side toward the end. I’m hoping that they learned a lot from that, that every team is beatable.”