BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Laina Rae Sawyer knocked in two RBIs, Caitlyn Brock scored two runs and Lily Brewer threw 10 strikeouts to lead Auburn High School to a 4-0 senior night win over Benjamin Russell High School on March 24.
The Lady Tigers (7A) improved to 11-4 while the Lady Wildcats (6A) fell to 4-15.
Although AHS head coach Matt Hendricks said he was dismayed that his team, again, left numerous runners stranded in scoring position, he was proud to celebrate five “low-maintenance” seniors who have grown before his eyes.
“This is the one night [seniors] get every year where it’s all about them,” Hendricks said. “They’re just a good group. They’re good leaders, good people, they make good grades and they’ve got their heads on straight. I’ve got a [seventh-grade] daughter who plays and she kind of looks up to a couple of them. I can’t imagine a better example for her to see.”
Sawyer, a senior center fielder, drove in the first and last runs of the game. On a night where she essentially sealed the Lady Tigers’ victory with her bat, she reflected on her time in the program thus far.
”It just made the night even more special, honestly,” Sawyer said. “[Playing here has] showed me a lot about the person and athlete I want to become, the relationships and friendships you can make, how you can have a family you’re not related to, and you become so close that everyone’s just like sisters. It’s just been really special playing with all of them.”
Brock, a senior left fielder, was the beneficiary of both of Sawyer’s hits. She said she’s come a long way since hanging around the program as a middle schooler and that it was rewarding to grow with her fellow seniors.
”I’m very grateful to play with my girls tonight and to be able to score some runs to get us on the board,” Brock said. “It really means a lot that my coaches have trusted me and kept me around since seventh grade. And just to see how far my teammates have come since the seventh grade, it’s really a blessing.”
It was Sawyer who got the Lady Tigers going in the bottom of the first with a looping single to center field that scored Brock from second base, though Sawyer was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double.
AHS quickly extended its lead in the bottom of the second when its collective patience at the plate paid off. With the bases loaded, a walk forced in Alivia Harris to push the Lady Tigers’ advantage to two runs.
As AHS’s bats grew cold through the next three innings, Brewer kept the Lady Tigers afloat by stonewalling BRHS’s batters. Across seven complete innings and 98 total pitches, the star junior right-hander allowed just two hits.
In the bottom of the sixth, Reese Kelley finally broke the game open for AHS with a triple into right field that dropped just inside the baseline and gave the Lady Wildcats’ outfield fits. Brock ultimately reached home from second from there, and Sawyer drove Kelley home with a high looping single into the infield that the Lady Wildcats inexplicably couldn’t corral.
