The Petal Softball Team continues to soar

PETAL, Miss. (WDAM) -The Petal Softball Team hasn’t dropped a game since mid-February as they cruise into April 13-1.

The third-ranked Lady Panthers aren’t just winning, they’re dominating. In fact, Petal shutout their opponent in eight of those 14 contests.

Leading the defensive charge for the Panthers is their pitching staff.

“Defensively it’s easy to play behind a pitcher like Natalie Herrington,” Petal Softball head coach Wendy Hogue said. “It’s easy to play behind a pitcher like Emma Kate Fimiano and it’s easy to play behind a pitcher who trusts their defense. It’s easy for your defense to play when they trust their pitcher so, I think the key to it is that they are relaxed.”

Hogue’s players echoed her philosophy.

“I know that every single person on the field is confident that they’re going to do what they’re supposed to do and then if there happens to even be a ball in play, I know our defense has got it behind them,” Petal shortstop Kinley Hogue said.

“Honestly during the game, I don’t think about throwing a shutout,” Petal pitcher Natalie Herrington said.

“I’m just thinking about how much confidence I have in my team behind me and I know if the ball does go in play, they’re going to make the play. I just have the full confidence in them because a shutout is about everybody playing their role.”

Despite their early success, the Lady Panthers had to put those wins behind them as they started a new chapter: region play.

“So we call it chapter two whenever we start district play and it’s obviously a whole new ballgame because those are the games we need to win,” Herrington said. “The first part of the season is just us getting comfortable and settling down and that’s kind of what we did to prepare for district.”

“The good news is hey we’re confident because we’ve done some really good things leading up to chapter two,” the Lady Panthers head coach said.

“Chapter one was great. We wrote it, we would love to keep that pen. The bad news is that chapter two doesn’t care what you did in chapter one. It is a new chapter and the entire storyline can change. They know they’re the author of our book and this is chapter two. Each one of them have their pen and we just look to write a pretty good story each day.”

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