By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Lady Wave softball team are once again MVL league champions after a double header sweep over Sidney on May 5. Head coach Jerrod Newland said it was great to win the league in front of a great crowd at Stebbins Field, but there is still more left to accomplish.

“I’m proud of the kids, but we have more on our plate than that. It’s just exciting, great atmosphere and crowd for these two games today,” Newland said.

It was also senior night at the field. Seniors Ashlyn Zimmer, Skylar Fletcher, Alaina Baughn, Caydance Davidson and Kylie Hamm were honored prior to the first game. Newland said they just didn’t honor five great kids, they honored five great families that were a part of the program.

This is a group that had their freshmen season cut short do to the COVID pandemic. Despite the lost season, the seniors are 75-12 in their career at Greenville and still have some more wins to get. Newland said he still gets emotional thinking about that 2020 season. The players were only with the program for three to four weeks during their freshmen campaign.

To honor that 2020 team with this group of seniors, Newland gave them white helmets that were supposed to be the 2020 team helmets.

Newland said after two years of storing the helmets, it was time to bring them out for the seniors to wear.

“I pulled those white helmets cause I figured that would be a way the 2020 team could be a part of this senior class. When I gave those seniors the white helmets a couple weeks ago, the Friday before Friday Night Lights, it was an emotional moment when I asked those five seniors if they wanted to wear the 2020 team helmets,” Newland said.

Greenville won the first game, 10-0. Hamm pitched all seven innings and had two strikeouts.

Sophomore Kylar Arnett had a two-run triple in the third inning to start the scoring. Freshman Kendall Cromwell had a RBI while sophomore Zoey Burns and junior Addie Burke each had a sacrifice flyout to drive in a run.

Then in the fourth, Burns went yard for a two-run home run to put the Lady Wave up 7-0. In the fifth, Burke had another RBI and junior Ella McLear drove in a run. Arnett drove in the game winning run to get the five-inning run rule win.

The bats didn’t stop in the second game. Zimmer and Cromwell each drove in a run to go up 2-0 in the first inning acting as the road team. But Sidney tied it up with a two-run home run in the first.

After scoring a run on an error, junior Mahayla Cook hit a two-run home run to put the Lady Wave up 5-2. Zimmer drove in two more runs and Cromwell scored another. Greenville had a six-run second inning to go up 8-2.

In the third inning, Greenville scored another eight runs. Arnett had a two-run double. Burns drove in two runs. Cromwell drove in a run along with Hamm. Cook continued to show off her power with a two-run double.

Cook wasn’t done there. In the fifth inning, she hit a moonshot to deep center for a two-run home run to go up 18-2. Sidney scored three runs in the fifth, but couldn’t score enough to keep the game alive. Greenville won 18-5 and clinched the MVL title.

Burns pitched four innings and had five strikeouts. Sophomore Morgan Thompson pitched the last inning and had two strikeouts.

The team will turn their attention to getting ready for postseason play. Newland said this senior class has unfinished business from the 2020 season and thinks the team will continue to play good softball the next three to four weeks.

For them, it’s not about playing for themselves. The team knows they are playing for something bigger than themselves.

“It’s not our name on the back, it’s the name on the front. It’s the old people here, the young people, the former players,” Newland said.

Greenville is now 19-4 with a 16-1 conference record. They will host Minster on May 8 for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch. They will then host Belmont at 5 p.m. for their first playoff game this tournament.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]