Page 7 - TR Diamond Roundup March 2017

THREE RIVERS EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE BASEBALL & SOFTBALL REVIEW | SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2017
7SS
CABOT LADY PANTHERS
Lady Panthers hope for strong start, finish
MARK BUFFALO/THREE RIVERS EDITION
Cabot junior and leadoff hitter Leah Gerald throws the ball during a practice. Gerald batted .349 last year.
BY MARK BUFFALO
STAFF WRITER
The Cabot Lady Panthers had a stellar year in 2016, finishing 22-4 overall and 14-0 in league play, but the season ended prematurely in the Class 7A State Tournament.
Cabot, the top seed from the 7A-East, lost to Rogers 8-4 in the second round of the state tournament at Bryant. The Lady Panthers had received a first-round bye.
“It is something for us to build upon,” Cabot coach Chris Cope said. “It’s in the back of our minds. With the starters coming back, they know it wasn’t one of our best games. I think we had six or seven errors in that game.”
Cabot was the Class 7A state runner-up in 2015.
“We had gotten on a roll until the end,” Cope said. “Hopefully, we’ll start and finish strong this season.”
Conference: 7A Central Coach: Chris Cope
Assistant coaches: Kelli Mayer
and Stacy Dalmut
2016 record: 22--4
Mascot: Lady Panthers Returning starters: Bethany
Knowles, Lauren McCluskey, Hannah Montgomery, Leah Gerald and Anna Beth Duncan
Cabot returns five starters off last year’s squad. One of the best all-around players is senior Hannah Montgomery, who plays first base and pitches.
“She would be the leading hitter starting the year,” Cope said, referring to Montgomery’s .447 batting average from a year ago. Junior Leah Gerald is the team’s leadoff hitter. She batted .349 a year ago.
Montgomery also hits for power, as she had
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Houston King, Clayton Gray and Davis Wofford. This year, the Arkansas Activities Associ- ation has implemented a pitch-count rule for baseball pitchers. There are limits on how many pitches a player can make and how often he can make them. The most a player can pitch in one game, with rest, is 110. Goodwin likes
the intent of the rule.
“I personally think it’s a good thing,” he said.
“I always viewed these high school sports, and
I want to win as much as anyone, but I’ve always said I would never sacrifice the health of a young man just to win a state championship because it is not fair to that kid. They may not all be going off to play college baseball, but they are still going to need to be able to pick up their arm to do daily things. I’m for this pitch-count rule because I don’t want to see kids get abused. I don’t think it’s right for a kid to go out and throw a complete game in a state tournament, then the next day, be asked to pitch the seventh inning. I just don’t think that is fair to a kid.”
Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.
-Babe Ruth
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