SHERIDAN – When one of the top teams in the conference came to Sheridan on Tuesday, the Lady Jackets turned to pitcher Cooper Terry.
She delivered what her coach called her best outing in two years as the Sheridan softball team defeated Benton 8-1.
Sheridan (22-2, 15-0 in 5A South) coach Scott Hoffman said Terry got back to playing her best in this game.
“She was phenomenal as a freshman, and then last year dealt with injury and surgery,” Hoffman said. “A physical problem became a mental issue. She has worked so hard to get it back. That’s her most complete performance in two years. I’m tickled to death. That’s my bulldog.”
Terry pitched six innings, allowing 1 earned run on five hits. She finished with four strikeouts and one walk. Benton shortstop Lydia Bethards delivered the Lady Panthers’ only run with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning.
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Terry said she was excited to start this game, and she felt like her old self.
“It felt really good tonight,” Terry said. “I was not hurting any tonight, so that’s a big one to me.”
In each of the first two innings, Benton (16-8, 11-4) got its first two hitters aboard, but Terry ensured they didn’t score.
In the first, she allowed hits to Cameron Culclager and Bethards but fought back with a strikeout, a popup and a groundball. In the second, Sheridan catcher Emma Goodman cut down the lead runner at third base before Terry got a groundball to herself and a lineout to third to strand a runner.
Hoffman said this was Terry’s first start in several weeks. He believed she was ready, and she handled the early runners well.
“Maybe last year, they start out with runners on, and we wouldn’t have handled it,” Hoffman said. “She would not have handled it. This year, the growth. It’s OK. … She never flinched, and that’s what’s been different about her right now than maybe in the past. We’re getting back to the Cooper Terry that believes in herself, so it was great to see.”
After issuing a walk to right fielder Addison Barger in the second, Terry retired the next 12 hitters she faced before the home run in the sixth.
Callie Kilburn pitched the seventh, allowing only a two-out walk as she ended the game.
Terry said she loves pitching with Kilburn.
“It’s so good, because she’s lefty, I’m righty,” Terry said. “She’ll sometimes start, I’ll close. She’ll close, I’ll start. We just work really well together.”
Meanwhile, Sheridan gave Terry plenty of run support. The Lady Jackets scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first, thanks in part to a 2-RBI single from Kilburn. Designated player Jadyn Ashcraft hit an RBI double in the third, and the Lady Jackets added 3 runs in the fourth. Shortstop Skylar Sterritt hit a 2-RBI single, then scored on a wild pitch.
Benton turned to reliever Rexie Crane in the fifth, and she pitched two scoreless innings to deny Sheridan a chance to run rule the Lady Panthers. She went on to draw the walk in the ninth, but Kilburn ended the game with a lineout to second base one hitter later.