White Hall’s Abby Weaver may only be a sophomore, but as the Lady Bulldogs prepare for Monday’s semifinal game against Greenbrier in the Class 5A state softball tournament, Weaver is projecting herself more as a senior leader.
After watching the Lady Dogs (24-8) falter down the regular-season stretch, Weaver felt something in her gut that motivated her to provide the pregame speech prior to White Hall’s opening-round playoff game against Greene County Tech.
“I had this feeling heavy on my heart that I needed to say something,” Weaver said Saturday afternoon. “I have seen them play and to see us not playing to our best potential broke my heart. It wasn’t like our normal team. It was almost like we had never played together before.”
Weaver admitted that a late-season loss to crosstown rival Watson Chapel added fuel to a fire that had already been smoldering in the organization.
“I think we went into the Chapel game with our heads too big,” she said. “And it tore us down when we lost to them. After that we just got distracted by outside things and stopped playing as a team. We stopped building each other up and supporting each other.”
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So prior to a 7-0 win over GCT in the opener, Weaver stood up and addressed the team. She noted these things and told her teammates to stop looking back.
“I basically just told them we needed to stop thinking about what happened before and to start playing as a team again,” Weaver said. “We needed to have a positive attitude and play our best. For some of us, like the seniors, we may never get another chance to play again. Time is not on our side.”
The words of wisdom struck a nerve with the team and with coach Terri Smith, who noticed the change but didn’t ask what was said in the pregame meeting when she noticed all eyes on Weaver.
“I don’t know what she said, but it must have made an impact,” Smith said. “These last two games they have closed up that hole and let that wound heal. It has just been incredible. They have really come together.”
The Lady Dogs were slated to play Greenbrier on Saturday, as was Alma against Vilonia. Those games were washed out and rescheduled for Monday at Wynne City Park.
Staff ace Sydnee Clark is expected to draw mound duties against the West No. 1 seed Lady Panthers. The hard-throwing righty has been effective in the playoffs, posting a shutout against East No. 3 seed Greene County Tech Thursday afternoon and allowing a late run against No. 1 Southwest seed Hope in Friday’s 11-1 win.
Clark is also part of an offensive package that has six of nine starters hitting beter than .400 with Karia Hall’s .479 leading the way out of the three-hole. Weaver is a prototypical leadoff hitter, batting .464 with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and 15 RBIs as a switch hitter.
Junior Rachel Box leads the team in run production, driving in 40 runs out of the cleanup spot followed by senior Haley Baugh’s 30. Box also leads the team in home runs (10) and doubles (12) while Baugh has bashed three long balls, including a two-run job in Friday’s quarterfinal affair.
Kayla Reap (.441) joins the .400-club alongside Lindsey Williams (.402), Baugh (.430) and Box (.488).
Weaver was asked by her teammates to give the pregame speech before the win over Hope. She repeated some of her earlier points and added that the win over GCT was more like the team she was accustomed to watching. She said the Lady Dogs needed to maintain that momentum through the remainder of the season.
One can assume she will have everyone’s attention Monday in Wynne prior to the 2:30 p.m. first pitch.