Keith Jump
After 3 failed tries to honor its seniors, the Baldwin Bravettes finally had its Senior Night. Playing an unconventional game between boys baseball and girls softball teams, the boys came away with a 4-3 win.
Led by seniors Ashlee Brett, Caitlin McNeill, Shan Basley, Rebecca Wright, Talisha Lewis, Charell Brown, and Savanna "Scrape" Roughen the Bravettes put a scare into the Braves before leaving 2 runners in scoring position in the bottom of the last inning.
With one out, Roughen walked and Basley tripled to bring the score to the 4-3 score. Then Brown popped up a bunt attempt and McNeill flied out to deep left field to end the game as the guys breathed a heavy sigh getting out with a hard fought win. Chris Bradshaw had an inside the park home run for the winning run. Hits were also totaled by Adrian Rollerson, Tyler Jump, Caleb Scoggins, Trevor Boyer, T.J. Osborne and Braxton Hurt, but could only manage the 4 runs against a tough Bravettes defense.
On the regular season the Bravettes finished 13-12 and finished the region in 5th place.
But with the toughest draw in the region playoffs the Bravettes saw their season end. Brett finished her stellar 4 year career as the Bravettes combined slow and fast pitch softball wins leader with a total of 31. She also averaged 58 strikeouts a year for her career. Brett’s senior year was hampered by a wrist injury but still managed 44 strikeouts over 8 wins.
Brown showed her prowess as a first baseman who could help her fielders stretching to get some big outs when needed.
She finished her senior season with an on base percentage over .600. With the power of few other players, she made defenses play her deep and on the line all year long. McNeill, the 3-year Bravette shined with the bat especially in her last season hitting .491 for the year. McNeill finished the season with only 4 missed opportunities all year to put the ball in play.
Basley who has one of the strongest arms with outstanding range forced teams to try and hit away from her all 4 years. In this, her last year, she hit .486 and had an OBP of .580. She also led the team in extra base hits with 11.
Rebecca Wright made all teams think before running on her powerful arm from center field as she gunned out numerous runners trying to take an extra base or trying to score. This included throwing out 4 runners at the plate this year, with 2 being game saving throws.
Roughen catching for the first time after 3 years as an infielder threw out 22 of 33 runners trying to steal. She had a batting average of .309 but finished with an OBP of .596 and led the team with 8 sacrifice bunts.
Lewis, the most inexperienced of the seniors, contributed in many ways also.
She was big leader with her spirit and attitude toward all her teammates.
“This is a very special group that will be hard to replace and I will miss each of them tremendously,” coach Donnie Coburn said following the game.
“Commitment, attitude, work ethic, and family support are the traits this team leave for all future teams to try and follow,” said Coburn of his seniors who have left big shoes to fill for future classes.
