By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
Parkers Chapel's softball program is heading into one of its biggest weeks of the season. The Lady Trojans, who are 11-7 overall and 7-1 in conference, are in a four-team race for first place with Rison, Spring Hill and Harmony Grove.
PC travels to Emerson today but then visits Spring Hill on Thursday and Harmony Grove on Friday.
"We control our own destiny," said PC coach Elliot Jacobs. "We beat those two teams and we will be the number one seed. But, it's a big test winning at both of those places."
According to MaxPreps, Harmony Grove is 6-1 in league play while Spring Hill is 6-3 and Rison is 5-3. The Lady Trojans are 1-1 on the season with the defending state champion Lady Wildcats but PC owns the tiebreaker.
The Lady Trojans had their six-game winning streak snapped at Rison on Friday. Errors proved fatal in the 5-1 loss. The defensive miscues have crept in at bad times.
"It's a lack of communication. It's physical errors and on top of that, a lack of communication," said Jacobs. "When they communicate on fly balls, communicate on the cuts and relays, like we did against Harmony Grove the first game. We didn't make any errors and we played a great game. The games we've struggled, we don't communicate. We have no idea where to go with the ball when it's hit to us."
Jacobs, in his first year as PC's coach, took over a team that advanced to the 2A state semifinals last year. But, that team included two-time News-Times Player of the Year Courtney Phelps, who pitched every important inning for the Lady Trojans over the last couple of seasons.
"I knew we were going to have a young team. We lost six starters from last year. So, we knew we were going to struggle," said Jacobs. "But, we replaced those starters with good young talent. We knew we had a tough schedule and we'd struggle early. We've been playing better. This last week we kind of reverted back to the old ways of doing things. That's my fault as a coach for not having them ready to play Rison. We've talked about approaching practice and games the right way and giving the right effort. If we can do that, we can compete with anybody in the state."
Freshman Drue Thomas has stepped into the circle as PC's No. 1 pitcher. Senior shortstop Savannah Slaughter can also step into the circle. In fact, at times the two will alternate innings in the same game. Still, Phelps left huge shoes to fill, both in the circle and in the batting order.
"Very tough. Anytime you lose a senior like that, regardless of who you replace them with, it's going to be tough," said Jacobs. "Drue, as a freshman, has done a great job of stepping in. But, there was something the Phelps girl had that Drue doesn't and that's four years of experience. Drue will have that when she's a senior but there's no way to teach her that. Talent-level, I can't really tell a difference in the two. But, experience, you know a senior is going to have more than a freshman."
Whenever the Lady Trojans do make a pitching change, it shifts the entire defense because Thomas plays outfield or catcher. If Slaughter pitches, Kenlee McAuliffee moves from third to short and so forth.
"It's kind of a carousel, right now, which does explain some of our defensive problems," said Jacobs.
The Lady Trojans hope to get it figured out quickly. A number one seed could be at stake. For PC, it all starts today.
"The biggest key for us, obviously, starts at Emerson. Our most important game is the next one we play," said Jacobs. "We didn't play too good our last game so we need to show we can compete at the level we expect to compete at. And then, Tuesday and Wednesday have the best practices of the year. If we can get those two things accomplished, we feel confident going into Thursday and Friday."