The Caledonia High School softball team dominated from start to finish to open postseason play with an emphatic 24-1 home win over Yazoo City on Friday night in the opening game of their first-round MHSAA Class 4A softball tournament series.
Caledonia completed the 2-0 sweep with a 14-0 win on Saturday at Yazoo City.
Friday marked the Cavaliers’ 18th win of the season, building on an already impressive resume out of a tough district and bolstering their confidence as they look to move on in the playoffs. The Cavaliers were spurred on by a loud and celebratory home crowd.
“Throughout the whole year we’ve told the girls to battle adversity, battle pressure, because once you get to the playoffs you’re gonna see it,” Cavaliers coach Andy Finch said. “Once you get into the playoffs you’re gonna face pressure to perform and to get better, and I think having the crowd here tonight helped fill their tanks. The community answered the call. We want to focus on handling pressure and enduring adversity.
“We’ve seen them battle and defeat adversity. We’ve seen it defeat us too, but even in defeat we look for ways to get better and fight through it, and they’ve done that. This division we’re in is tough. It’s a playoff atmosphere every night, and it prepares us for it. The girls have answered the bell 9 times out of 10.”
Fresh off of a 17-0 win over Shannon on Wednesday, the Cavs answered the bell again from the start. After going down 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning, they scored 24 unanswered runs over their next two innings, hitting well throughout the order and getting confident at-bats from the more experienced players.
The confidence was echoed after the game by senior pitcher and shortstop, Ashlyn Jordan, who started in the circle but also had a solid night hitting with five RBIs.
“I’m very confident in us,” Jordan said. “This season has been really good, and we’ve been playing ball well. We’ve improved since last year, and I didn’t think we’d make it this far.
“I feel like not only have we improved, but we’ve gotten closer as teammates and as friends, it’s not just on the field; it’s in school as well.”
Junior Lauren Brown, who also had five RBIs, expressed excitement for what the team has accomplished and paid tribute to the fans for showing up.
“We’ve done really well this year,” Brown said. “We’ve won more games than I can remember us winning, and we’re really clicking. We were hoping to make the playoffs this year. We love the home field, the little girls came and cheered us, it’s just really nice.”
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