Murphy – After the second inning Murphy softball had defending Smoky Mountain Conference champion Robbinsville right where they wanted them on March 14.
The Lady Bulldogs had chased defending SMC Pitcher of the Year Memory Frapp after an eight run second inning, a nice cushion against a powerful Lady Knights lineup.
But there was a lot of softball left to be played, and Robbinsville took advantage, outscoring Murphy 13-2 over the final five innings to come away with a 16-11 to open conference play.
“I think we hit the ball great,” head coach Billy Dockery said. “Memory’s a good pitcher but we hit the ball and we hit her good. Defensively we struggled, we had some bad plays and pitching wasn’t very good.”
It’s been an up and down start for Murphy this year, with the Lady Bulldogs losing at Franklin to open the season on March 9 after falling behind 8-0 in the first inning, then mercy ruling Smoky Mountain 15-0 on March 13 before starting conference play.
Despite graduating eight seniors, the Lady Knights (4-1 overall, 2-0 conference) returned Frapp and conference player of the year Zoie Shuler, who is a University of Tennessee softball commit. The duo teamed up to put Robbinsville ahead in the top of the first, with Shuler leading off the game with a double and Frapp singling her home with one out.
Murphy responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, with Riley Dockery singling her younger sister Julia home to tie the game. Their dad, Billy Dockery, is the head coach, and said he’ll be relying on them and senior pitcher Jersey Schwalm to set the tone this year. The Lady Bulldogs graduated just one senior, return all but one starter in the field, and have a little more roster depth this year 13 players. Due to some injuries last year, Murphy had games where they started kids who weren’t on the team at the beginning of the season.
An RBI double by Shuler put Robbinsville on top in the top of the second, and she would come around to score and extend the lead to 3-1 on a Murphy error. The Lady Bulldogs exploded for eight runs in the second inning, all with two outs. A single by Schwalm with runners on second and third cut the lead to 3-2, and Riley Dockery followed with a popup down the first-base line that was lost in the wind to tie the game. Paisley Johnson and Taryn Morrow followed with base hits to put Murphy in front 5-3, then a bases-loaded walk by Sanai Wilson and a single to left by Ansley Hogsed extended the lead to 7-3. Two more runs came around to score when Aiden Smith reached on a throwing error.
But Murphy couldn’t keep Robbinsville off the board for long. The Lady Knights only had one scoreless inning, and never went down 1-2-3. A two-run double by Frapp in the fourth cut the lead to 9-6, and three more runs in the inning came off of Murphy errors.
“I think it’s still early in the season so a lot of the younger girls are nervous and not making the plays that they can,” Billy Dockery said. I think we’ll get better as the season goes on, defensively.”
Schwalm was replaced by Julia Dockery in the circle in that inning, and Robbinsville tagged her for three runs in the top of the fifth, with Naomi Taylor’s single to left-center field putting the Lady Knights back on top. Murphy would get one back on a sacrifice fly by Riley Dockery in the bottom of the inning, but left two runners on base. Robbinsville took advantage of its runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth, getting an RBI groundout from Taylor and then a two-run double by Liz Carpenter to extend the lead to 15-10.
That was enough for Frapp, who re-entered the circle in place of Suri Watty in the fourth inning. Murphy made solid contact but couldn’t string enough hits together. With an experienced group and more depth, Billy Dockery thinks the Lady Bulldogs can improve on last year’s 7-8 record. Expectations internally are a little higher, but the team has some things to work out to meet them.
“The main thing for me is they kept fighting, they didn’t ever lay down,” Dockery said. “Robbinsville put up some big innings and we didn’t get down and we always came back out and got some hits but it wasn’t enough. Our defense, we have to clean it up a little bit.”