Power surge helps Farragut go 18-1
On quite a pace with the long ball by week’s end, junior Lauren Brakovec was one of three Farragut players with two hits as Nick Green’s Lady Admirals continued to roll along.
“Brakovec had a good game, she went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a home run, which was her third for the week,” Green said about his first baseman in a 5-1 victory against Anderson County at FHS’s Bellamy Field Saturday evening, April 17.
Improving to 18-1 overall entering this week, the Lady Admirals stayed on top, and perfect, in District 4-AAA at 9-0. ACHS fell to 23-10.
Meanwhile, head coach Allen Russell and his Lady Mavericks had to deal with FHS starting pitcher Avery Mattina and her complete-game victory. “She did an outstanding job on the mound for us,” Green said of the sophomore, who allowed one earned run, six hits and just one walk with one strikeout in seven innings.
“I would be happy if we did that every game,” he added about Mattina’s Saturday performance.
Farragut scored three times in the bottom of the second inning. Junior Autumn Caywood’s RBI single to right field scored Brakovec, who singled. Two sophomores produced the second run. Ava Guzowski, who singled to right, scored on Ameilia Retterer’s groundout. Junior Sarah Livingston, who was hit-by-pitch, scored on an error.
Following Brakovec’s home run in the third, Livingston began a two-out rally by reaching on an infield single. Caywood singled before Retterer’s single to center field scored Livingston.
Avery Strickland, junior center fielder, added two hits for the Lady Ads, while teammate Cameron Young, senior third baseman, connected for one hit while making a nice defensive play at third base. Farragut was errorless defensively.
Anderson County used a pair of third-inning singles to score its run. Individually, McKinna Miller produced half of the Lady Mavs’ offense with three hits.
Though not having played FHS in recent years, “in the last six or seven years we’ve been a lot better than we normally have, so it’s like, ‘yeah, let’s go play Farragut.’ We can get better playing them,” said Russell, a former student in Farragut schools before his family moved prior to him attending Farragut High School.
As for the depth of Russell’s ties to FHS and the Town, “My mom and dad graduated here and all my family’s from here,” he said.
