Cunningham & Cox Combine For Shutout As Silverdale Softball Blanks East Hamilton In Season Opener, 8-0

Thursday, March 7, 2024
John Hunt

The Silverdale Baptist Academy Seahawks began the 2024 softball season the same way last year’s season ended…with a win.

Granted, Thursday’s 8-0 shutout at East Hamilton wasn’t quite as significant at that win back in May that earned the second state title for Silverdale, but nonetheless, it’s a step in the right direction as many people feel like this Silverdale team may be even better than the last one as they only graduated one player.

The Lady Seahawks took the lead with a run in their first time at bat, but it was a four-run fourth that ultimately broke the game open. Three more runs in the top of the sixth were just a bit of icing on the cake.

Silverdale coach Jackie Freeland doesn’t even think about going undefeated as she knows there a lot of tough games on the schedule, but she was really happy to get the first one in the bank.

“The good news is that we got off to a good start and both of our pitchers really threw it well,” Freeland said after a brief chat with her team following the game.

“We got some key hits and scored a bunch of runs with two outs, so these girls are not going to give up. There’s always room to get better, but we didn’t make any errors and our defense was solid. That’s a great way to start our season,” Freeland smiled.

The Lady Hurricanes were also a state tournament participant back last spring and there are still a lot of familiar faces in their starting lineup. East Hamilton coach Norma Nelson knows there are some valuable players to replace and that there is still plenty of room to get better, but limited time on the field in recent weeks because of the weather certainly didn’t help.

“Silverdale is a really good team and they’re the defending champions,” Nelson began.

“We didn’t play very well and most of our errors were on bad throws, but we also have to be able to hit the ball better. We know we have to play really good teams if we want to get better and that’s why they’re on our schedule.

“And I thought that Ashlynn Watkins pitched pretty well today until she got tired. But we have a long way to go and I can promise you that we’ll be better as the season progresses,” Nelson said matter of factly.

Jaliyah Whitaker got the game off on the right foot for Silverdale as she led off with a single to left and went to second on a bad throw back to the infield. She went to third on a stolen base before scoring on the second error of the inning by the Lady Canes.

That 1-0 lead stood for three innings until the Lady Seahawks batted around in the fourth and scored four runs on two singles, a double, a triple, two walks and a wild pitch.

Winning pitcher Ella Cunningham led off the inning with a triple into the right-field corner and courtesy runner Eliana Phillips made it 2-0 after scoring on a wild pitch.

Bita Cox later had a run-scoring double while Braylee Raby and Whitaker both had RBI-singles.

East Hamilton had its best opportunity to score when they loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs, but Cunningham left everyone stranded when she recorded another strikeout.

Watkins coaxed a walk with two outs while Madilyn Evans and Faith Wadley both singled to load the bases. Cunningham then got Gabby Printout on a swinging third strike to end that threat.

Silverdale concluded the scoring with three runs in the sixth. Cox and Whitaker both walked while Allie Weber reached on a throwing error. East Hamilton drew the infield in before Emry Masterson made them pay with a sharp single up the middle to drive in all three runs.

Cunningham was the winning pitcher after working five innings and allowing all three hits while walking one and recording 11 strikeouts. Cox then pitched the final two innings and walked three, but didn’t allow a hit or a run while getting four strikeouts of her own.

Whitaker was the only Silverdale player with two hits while Masterson was the only Lady Seahawk with more than one RBI.

Cunningham was the winning pitcher for Silverdale while Watkins took the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits. She also had four walks and three strikeouts. Yulai Woodruff relieved her with one out in the sixth and finished up, allowing one run on one hit and walking one while striking out four.

Silverdale’s next game will be at a tournament in Gulf Shores when they face Hazel Green on Monday while East Hamilton will play Oliver Springs next Friday in the Tiger Classic at Meigs County.