D.J. Sanders accomplished another first on a slow-pitch softball field Thursday night: She pitched.
New Hope High School coach Tabitha Beard has a Senior Night rule: The Lady Trojans must be up 10 runs before players are allowed to change positions. With a 12-2 lead in the fifth inning, Sanders stepped inside the circle to close out her final regular-season game at Lady Trojan Field.
“It was a dream night for me and my teammates because all I could think of was getting up by 10 so we could all play the positions we always wanted,” Sanders said. “Coach said we had to be up 10 runs before we could do it, but I never thought I’d get to pitch because you can’t assume you’ll be up 10 on anybody.”
Before the five-member senior class was honored, New Hope defeated Caledonia 12-2. Sanders, who was 3-for-3 with a towering two-run home run in the fourth, also had four RBIs and scored each time she reached base. She capped her final slow-pitch regular-season game with a perfect top of the fifth in the circle. After the game, she said her Senior Night experience matched the previous six years on the varsity team — perfect.
“I’ll remember each of the five seniors on this team, along with the rest of my teammates, as more than people I played with,” Sanders said. “I’ll remember them as family and best friends. This has been part of the best experience of my life playing sports at New Hope with these people.”
New Hope (18-2) scored three runs in the first thanks to a double by senior Kaitlin Bradley and a two-run hit by Sanders to right field. Bradley also was 3 for 3 with three runs scored in the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
“It was really strange because normally for every game we’re a little nervous as a team but tonight, nobody seemed nervous,” Bradley said. “I think the idea of it being Senior Night just brought everyone together and allowed us to play well.”
Beard stayed for more than two hours after the game to hug parents and players from what is one of her first classes as New Hope High softball coach.
“I got a chance today to look at some of the pictures from when these girls were seventh- or eighth-graders,” Beard said. “When you watch people grow up before your very eyes, it means so much as a coach to see them honored on a night like this.”
Even senior Kaydi Woolbright, who Beard described in the Senior Night celebration as a player who has battled injuries, singled to left field in the fourth. Woolbright, who was pinch hitting, left to a standing ovation from the crowd.
“How awesome was that moment for somebody like Kaydi Woolbright?” said Beard, who also recognized senior R.J. James after the game. “It was a spectacular night for each of our seniors. Even when you think of a (senior) Taylor Blevins that transferred here in 10th grade and now she is thought of as a major part of our family. It was the special night I wanted for all of them.”
New Hope’s defense started and finished the victory. A 4-6 double play ended a Caledonia threat in the first. Sanders turned a 1-6-3 double play for the final outs.
“I have pitched in so many big games in fast pitch, but I don’t know why I was so freaked out about pitching in slow pitch,” Sanders said. “People should know it was a completely different shortstop and second baseman that orchestrated the last part of that doubleheader, too. We can do anything if we put our mind to it.”
As the Region 2 champion, New Hope will play host to Saltillo, the Region 1 runner-up, in a best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A/6A first-round state tournament series starting Tuesday.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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