Coming off a fourth consecutive Franklin County Tournament championship, the Belgreen High School varsity softball team is aiming to continue improving as the season progresses and nears postseason play.
Belgreen head coach Sander Tverberg said the season did not get off to the hottest of starts, but the Lady Bulldogs have faced some hard outs thus far and are getting better day-by-day because of it.
“We’re improving. I feel like we’ve played a lot of tough competition and it’s paying off. We’ve been playing good teams, higher classification teams, and I think it’s helped us grow,” Tverberg said. “I think we are improving and getting better each game.”
“Our pitching is improving. We still need to improve on our defense a little bit, but our bats have come around since the beginning of the year.”
A few players in particular have stood out to Tverberg in the process of developing their game.
“I think Hannah Borden—her and Lily Blackman are my two pitchers—and I think Hannah’s pitching has improved, and she’s helped us out a lot along with Lily,” he said. “Defensively, we made a move with one of my seniors (Morgan Vandiver) from second to shortstop, and she’s played really well. She’s learning the position on a different side of the field, so she’s working hard on that and making daily improvements.”
“My center fielder (Bryn Scott) was very good last year and she’s kept it going this year. And my right fielder, Mackinley Hogan: she’s a 10th grader this year and has improved tremendously over the last year, making a lot of plays offensively and defensively,” Tverberg added. “I’ve got other kids making plays, as well, but those five have really made an improvement from last year.”
The Lady Bulldogs’ advancements have produced one very tangible result this season: a fourth-straight Franklin County Tournament crown. On paper, Belgreen didn’t have the best win-loss record heading in, but Tverberg said the county tournament is any team’s to win.
“That’s always one of our goals, to win the county tournament. It’s so competitive. All the county teams, no matter what the records are, everybody plays their best. At the county tournament they do and everyone feels like they’ve got a shot to win it,” he said. “We had a chance in that first game of the county tournament to fold when Tharptown made a run at us, but they fought back and got that close win.”
The Lady Bulldogs defeated Tharptown 5-3 in that contest and just kept going, defeating Phil Campbell and Red Bay on their way to the county trophy.
“They never looked back. They played with determination to win. I was very proud of them for that and how they just fought and never gave up,” Tverberg said. “I think it’s a testament to our kids. Our season wasn’t going the way we were wanting it to go going into (the tournament), but they just made up their minds that they wanted to win.”
With that feather in their cap, the Lady Bulldogs are looking down the road to other potential hardware. Belgreen has one vital game left against Hackleburg, which will determine who hosts the area tournament. The Lady Bulldogs would welcome home field advantage in a tournament that Tverberg said fields stout opposition.
“We’re hoping to go into it playing well because it’s going to be a tough area this time,” he said. “Vina has improved a whole lot, and they’ve played us tough every time we’ve played them this year. Hackleburg is very good. It’s going to be a tough area to get out of, so I hope we go in playing well. We’re looking forward to the competition, and I think the girls will be excited and ready to go.”
“I’m excited to get towards the end of the year, towards the area tournament and the playoffs,” Tverberg added. “Those are what you’re always playing for, and it’s exciting for your kids to get to that point. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish.”
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