Softball, baseball compete in playoffs, reflect on seasons

By:  Cody Thomason

The last two weeks saw both the Chargers varsity baseball and softball teams’ seasons end.  Both were swept in the playoffs in the third and second rounds respectively.  The baseball team’s loss came at the hands of Hernando, while softball fell to McComb.  The baseball team was swept in two games, losing by a score of 7-1and 6-9.

“We didn’t play like the Chargers we were the whole season,” said sophomore centerfielder Chadwick Lamar.  “We didn’t hit the ball.”

Junior William Elliot went into further detail.

“We made way too many errors, 10 in the last two games,” Elliot said.

“You’re not going to win a playoff series making 10 or more errors,” Lamar said.

The team’s performance against Hernando was well below the team’s expectation, however head coach Chris Baughman says the loss was not based on a lack of effort.

“ I’m disappointed in the way that we played, but proud of the effort we gave.  We didn’t quit at all,” Baughman said.

The Lady Chargers softball team was also swept in two games, losing 10-2 and 10-3.

Freshman 3rd baseman Alexis Longsdorf noted one reason for the losses.

“Overall we didn’t do as good as we should have.  We have to be able to pick our teammates up,” Longsdorf said.

The loss was disappointing, but junior rightfielder Victoria Bryant was still able to see a positive side to the team’s playoff loss.

“We worked really hard.  We lost, but we’re still really happy we made it to the second round of the playoffs.” Bryant said.

“We lost but we went out very strong,” added sophomore Payton Drummond.

Even though both of the teams were unsatisfied by their performances in their final series, they both felt that the overall season was a success.

“We had our ups and downs, but we came out so strong that it was overall a good season,” Drummond said.

Lamar said about the baseball team

“We shocked everybody.  Everybody was betting we wouldn’t make the playoffs.  We beat the defending state champions and made it to the third round.  I feel like we did really well,” Lamar said.

So where do the teams plan to head next year?

“Since we saw we could go into the playoffs, we will be more determined to go farther next year,” Longsdorf said.

“I think we’re going to come out strong next season and stay strong the entire time,” Drummond said.