On Wednesday, he was happy the Lady Leopards’ superb pitching was solid enough for TC to sweep Hill 5-3, 3-0 in doubleheader to open Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference play at Danny Scott Sports Complex.
“The one thing that really showed today is that we just aren’t quite in synch yet,” Hennig said. “The thing that made the difference today was we were able to use our short game. We’d get runners on, move them into scoring position and score them playing small ball.”
Truth is, Hennig isn’t so much a worrier as he is a coach always looking for ways to make his 20-9 Lady Leopards even better.
On Wednesday, they provided him some material to work with.
Up 1-0 in the first game with pitcher Caitlin Austin having allowed just one base runner through the first four innings, Temple’s defense made it’s first error of the game and it was a costly one.
With one out and Hill’s Hailey Ruzicka on first after drawing a walk, Taelor Wheeler hit a grounder to the left of second base. It looked like an easy step-on-second-throw-to-first double play for shortstop Emily Gallia. But Gallia decided to flip the ball to second baseman Michelle Stratta, who wasn’t expecting the toss that fell a few feet behind second base.
Two batters later, Laura Sotiropoulos doubled to the left-center field gap to drive in both runners and give Hill a 2-1 lead.
“Double play ball and we are out of the inning,” Hennig said of Gallia’s error. “She had the easy double play, just step on second and throw. I bet we work on that tomorrow. I guess that was the play of the game because the momentum shifted to their side.”
But as good teams tend to do, Temple took back the momentum.
Hill added another run in the top of the sixth before TC exploded in the bottom of the inning.
Stratta started with a triple to the wall in right field, then Gallia made up for her fielding error by driving in Stratta on a bloop single to right and advancing to second on the throw. Alexa Lyday followed with a soft single to left to drive in Gallia and tie the game.
“Michelle hit the tar out of her ball,” Hennig said. “She hit the top of the (wall) out there. Sometimes that’s all it takes is one hit like that to get things going. Then Emily and Alexa get those bleeders that turned out to be big hits.”
After Troy product Shelby Shepperd reached on an error, Victoria Recek doubled home both runners with a shot to center field, giving Temple a 5-3 advantage and Hennig something to smile about.
“I was pleased with the way we put it together and came back from the 3-1 deficit,” he said. “We are down to six outs and we only needed three of them.”
Austin allowed just one earned run, allowed six hits and struck out eight in the win.
“Caitlin struggled a bit,” Hennig said. “She’s had some tenderness in her arm and hasn’t had her best stuff, but she’s the type of player who is going to give all she has.”
Not to be outdone, pitcher Kayla Shepherd tossed a brilliant game in the closer, allowing just four hits and striking out eight in the shutout victory.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the third, Temple put the game away in the fourth. Haylee Bell and Lyday hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. Shepperd bunted them forward and Karrah Campbell brought them in with a solid double to left for a 3-0 lead.
It was a huge hit for Campbell, who is one of several players Hennig has rotated through the lineup as he still struggles to find the right combination.
“By now we usually have established who we want in there each game,” Hennig said. “But right now I am still playing 11 girls instead of a solid nine. We’ve played 29 games and are still looking for the right hitter in each spot. Campbell is one of those girls that in the last few games has probably earned a permanent spot to be playing every day.
“We have to get back to being a team that is aggressive hitting the ball - the type of team that is capable of putting up a lot of runs and takes the other team out of the game early.”
The Lady Leopards will be at Vernon on Saturday and don’t play again at home until March 21.
