There have been more cancellations than games, but most which the Lady Indians have worked in between bouts of inclement weather have ended well for the Tribe.

 

The season started with a loss to Braxton County, then the team bounced back with a victory over Fairmont Senior. A strong series of hits featured in the contest against the Polar Bears followed in two pairs of wins late last week.

 

Thursday, the Lady Indians took on Robert C. Byrd in a home-played double-header, winning those contests 11-3 and 11-8. With starting pitcher Starr Pope on the mound, the first game was held to just five innings, said Coach Larry “Rabbit” Snider, who was quite pleased with how his girls played.

 

“You just don’t know what to expect when you have that much time off and, of course, all that rain and water accumulated and there was a lot of rust – no pun intended,” Snider said. “It’s difficult when you can’t get on the field because consistency develops confidence and hitting is a confidence-in-rhythm type of thing. You get into a flow and it goes pretty good, but when you keep interrupting that flow, it’s like starting over again.”

 

The Lady Indians have been able to practice in the gym a couple of times, but once out on the field, it’s difficult to get any quality practice accomplished indoors, Snider said.

 

“Live pitching is a little bit harder to replicate inside and, again, we’re trying to go over some fundamentals and keep sharp,” he said. “It’s difficult for them when they want to be out on the field."

 

In the first game against RCB, Paige Humble - who homered during her first at-bat against Braxton – had a trio of hits, including a triple. Payton Merica added a pair of hits, Emily Riggs hit a homerun and Laken Cook contributed a triple. Pope struck out four.

 

In game two against the Lady Eagles, Rahvin Hardman had two hits, including a triple with Riggs and Merica each contributing two hits. Johnna Hull went the distance on the mound.

 

Friday afternoon, the Lady Indians played Elkins and Gilmer County, both games in Bridgeport. BHS beat Elkins 9-1 in the first game. After falling behind early in the game against Gilmer County, BHS battled back to win 7-6.

 

“We made a good comeback in that game,” Snider said. “We were down 6-0 after four innings and I kind of challenged the girls. I said let’s see what you’re made of and see what we can do. They responded well with three runs in the fifth and four in the sixth and we didn’t have to bat in the seventh, winning 7-6.”

 

Freshman Cheyanne Martin and Pope shared time on the mound.

 

“(Cheyanne) did a good job and when we brought Starr in, she pretty well shut them down,” Snider said. “They got two hits off her in the three innings she pitched and she had four strikeouts.”

 

With six games under their belts, the Lady Indians still have 28 games left on the schedule. With sectionals slated for April 30, there are just 18 days to get remaining mandatory games in.

 

“Basically, what’s going to happen is we need to get games in against teams in our section. We need to play each team twice to get seeded in the sectional,” Snider said. “We have three more (teams) we haven’t played yet. Then we have seven conference games and we need to get in at least one game against each of those teams.”

 

In section play, the Indians still need to play Lincoln and Liberty twice. Within the conference, Fairmont East, North Marion, Buckhannon, Lewis, Grafton and Preston games are yet to be played.

 

It’s been a difficult season, to say the least, Snider said.

 

Weather permitting, the Lady Indians will be in action 5 p.m. today in Lewis County after which the Tribe has a double header against Philip Barbour 5 p.m. Tuesday.

 

Read about games against Braxton and Fairmont Senior HERE. 

Photos are by Ben Queen Photography. See more images of Friday's games against Elkins and Gilmer County HERE.