Crothersville’s Zoey Prince puts the ball in play on Tuesday night against West Washington.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Dacie Hughes throws a pitch against West Washington on Tuesday night.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Kendall Berry fields a pitch in the dirt on Tuesday night against West Washington.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Laekon Colwell throws the ball after fielding it at second base on Tuesday night against West Washington.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
CROTHERSVILLE — When Greg Jones first saw the softball field at Crothersville High School, he saw nothing but grass in the infield.
That’s because no game had been played on that field since 2018. But that changed on Tuesday night as the Crothersville softball team hosted West Washington for its home opener.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the game didn’t go their way as the Senators were able to walk away with a 10-0 victory.
But Jones was happy his team was able to actually host a game for the first time in five years.
“We worked really hard when we first took over this program and we saw the infield was nothing but grass,” Jones said. “The community, parents and fans helped us get ready. We were very excited. I got two seniors on the team, and I wanted them to play their first home game at home.”
The Senators were able to score 10 runs in the first inning, and that’s all they would get and need to secure the win.
Dacie Hughes pitched the first two innings for Crothersville and Zoey Prince pitched the other three innings.
Jones said Hughes and Prince will be Crothersville’s main pitchers in the circle this season. He said Kendall Berry has pitched before in travel ball, but he likes the leadership of Berry behind the plate as the team’s catcher.
Offensively, Berry was the lone Tiger to get a hit on the night. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Berry hit a ball over the head of West Washington’s right fielder, and she was able to round the bases for a triple.
Although Berry was the only one with a hit, multiple Tigers made solid contact for groundouts throughout the game.
“That’ll bring some momentum for the girls (tonight),” Jones said. “Hopefully it carries over with them. Kendall had that nice hit, and all the girls got excited.”
Crothersville, who opened last weekend, is now 0-3 on the season. The Tigers will be back home later today against Lanesville at 5:30 p.m., and then they’ll close their three-game homestand a week from now against Borden.
Jones wants to see his team defend better, get better as each game goes by and ultimately just have fun out on the field.
“We want to learn how to field the ball, and just have fun with it. I don’t want them to get discouraged,” Jones said. “We have six or seven girls coming back next year, so we’re a young team. A lot of them haven’t played ball before, so it’s like starting a brand new team.”