Lady Hawks’ 9-1 victory is a 10-1 start
Though starting out with 10 wins and just one loss to begin the season, coming off a home victory against perenniel power Gibbs late last week, Hardin Vallley Academy head coach Whitney Hickam-Cruze was cautious about the road ahead.
“We’re off to a good start, but there’s still a lot of improving that needs to be done,” the Lady Hawks coach said after whipping the GHS Lady Eagles 9-1 Friday evening, March 26.
Among the positives, “They’re hitting the ball pretty good right now,” Hickam-Cruze said, as HVA entered the week 3-0 in District 4-AAA. “They’ve shown that they can be explosive offensively at times.”
Individually, “Brooke Taylor’s on fire right now for us, she’s seeing the ball well,” the coach said about her junior second baseman/left fielder.
“Madi (Lane, senior shortstop) and Gracie (Gray, sophomore pitcher/outfielder) in the three-four (lineup) hole are hitting it well.”
On the mound, Gray and senior Denver Hogrefe “are rotating, they’re splitting time” as co-staff pitching aces, the coach said, with Gray picking up the complete game win versus Gibbs.
“They work together a lot of times to finish games,” she added. “They’re working real well together.”
Elsewhere, “We were able to get to a tournament in Cookeville and a had a pretty good day,” Hickam-Cruze said about a recent 5-0 stop there.
