CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville High baseball team hosted Dickson County on Thursday, March 14 for a regional matchup. While it took a while for the bats to heat up, Clarksville went on to beat out the Cougars 11-1.
Early on, the Wildcats struggled to score runners, going scoreless in their first two innings of the game. Meanwhile, Dickson County wasted no time scoring in the first, but Clarksville held the Cougars in check throughout the remainder of the game due to the pitching performance by sophomore Collie Reynolds, who pitched 4 and 1/3 innings while only allowing the one run to score.
Following Reynolds, Braeden Taylor came out of the bullpen for relief and shut the door, head coach Brian Hetland said the pitching staff’s outing was crucial in the win.
“Collie and Braeden threw a great game,” Hetland told Clarksville Now. “When Collie got tired, Braeden came in and picked it right back up. They’ve both been go to guys for us this season.”
In the third inning, the Cats offense got hot, scoring 4 in the third, and 11 total runs in the next 3 innings. Hedland said all his team needed was to get in a rhythm.
“It just came down to figuring out how to hit off of Dickson’s lefty,” Hetland said. “He was just really good early, and its hard time to hit at this time of year. Once we started running on him, we got things going.”
Clarksville now moves to 5-1 on the season and is set to travel to Stewarts Creek on Friday, March 15. Clarksville has major exceptions this season, coming off a state tournament appearance last year. However, Hetland says this team is taking it one game a time.
“Right now, the goal is just to get better,” Hetland said. “We want to figure out the depth of our pitching staff, what bats we want to go with, and most importantly just learn from each game and grow.”