Lady Pats blank Dickson County

It is going to be almost impossible for any future Henry County High School softball teams to top the Lady Patriots’ performance this spring.

Henry County completed its regular season by blanking Dickson County 2-0 Tuesday in Dickson. The Lady Patriots are now 39-1 on the season and in the midst of a 35-game winning streak.

The Lady Patriots have shut out their last three opponents, which should be making the other District 10-AAA teams very nervous as they prepare for Thursday’s first round of the district tournament.

Despite their gaudy record, the Lady Patriots are the No. 2 seed for the district tournament, thanks to an early season loss to Clarksville High School.

Both Clarksville and Henry County posted 13-1 records in the district and Clarksville won a coin flip to earn the No. 1 seed.

Henry County will begin tournament play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday by hosting No. 7 Kenwood at HCHS.

Thursday’s other first-round games pit No. 8 West Creek at Clarksville, No. 3 Northeast hosts No. 6 Rossview and No. 4 Northwest entertains No. 5 Springfield.

The tournament continues at HCHS and Clarksville on Friday. The HCHS-Kenwood winner will play the winner of Northeast-Rossview at 5 p.m. at the Lady Patriots’ softball field.

A 6:45 start will pit the loser’s of the HCHS-Kenwood game against the Northeast-Rossview loser.

At Clarksville High School, the 5 p.m. game Friday sends the Clarksville-West Creek winner against the Northwest-Springfield winner.

The second game will have the Clarksville-West Creek loser playing the Northwest-Springfield loser.

The tournament will continue Monday with a pair of loser’s bracket games at the higher seed’s field, with semifinal and final action beginning Tuesday at Clarksville High.

Henry County wasted no time getting on top of a Dickson County squad that sports a 32-5 record.

Hannah Gwaltney drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning and Gracie Osbron followed with a home run to put the Lady Patriots on top 2-0.

It would be the only runs scored in the contest, as Lady Patriot pitcher Celie Hudson tossed her second shutout in as many days. She blanked Union City by the same 2-0 margin Monday.

Hudson worked out of jams throughout the victory at Dickson. A double play erased a Lady Pariot error in the bottom of the first and Hudson got out of bases-loaded jams in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings to preserve the win.

She allowed six hits, walked three and hit three batters. Hudson had four strikeouts, with two coming in the decisive seventh-inning.