By DAVID GRAVELY
SWT Sports Editor
It didn’t last long, but what did happen was exciting to watch.
The Pulaski County Lady Cougar softball team welcomed former head coach Gina Miano back to the program with a bang Tuesday. It was more of a crack actually … as in the crack of the bat … as the Lady Cougars put up 13 runs against William Fleming in just 2.5 innings of play before the rain came.
It was a first scrimmage, and with that came the normal first scrimmage mistakes here and there for both teams. Despite those few mistakes, the Lady Cougars still held William Fleming scoreless.
Sophomore Josie Brewer picked up where she left off last season on the pitching rubber, showing good control and speed through the rain shortened scrimmage. She went two innings, allowing one walk while striking out four batters.
The rest of the defense played without an error to back her up. Doing that in a first scrimmage is a bit of a rarity.
When Brewer wasn’t striking out Lady Colonels she was hitting the ball. She finished the night 2 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI on a solid home run. All together the Lady Cougars had 11 hits and 2 walks. That could have been more had it not been a controlled scrimmage where every player batted each inning.
While the offensive output and the defensive effort were encouraging, Miano and her staff know that the outcome means less than the fact that the team was able to get out on the field and face live pitching and a game situation.
While the 2017 Lady Cougars may not be the youngest team to ever take the field, they will be looking to replace some key players lost to graduation and other sports. Practice time is good, but live action is the only way to truly find out how a player will react under fire.
The team will take the field this season with three seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.
The Lady Cougars are scheduled to be back in action today when they host the Auburn Eagles at the PCHS softball field. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m.