By Garrett Kroeger

The Natchez Democrat

On a chilly Monday afternoon at Chester Willis Field, scoring was easy to come by for one team, yet not so much for other.

From the get go, Franklin County High School’s bats were a blaze while Cathedral School’s were as cool as the weather as the Bulldogs defeated the Green Wave in five innings, 15-1.

“It’s always good to score a bunch of runs,” said Franklin County coach Joshua Thibodeaux. “But still, our approach on the plate on some things is not where I want it to be.”

Despite the Bulldogs collectively hitting 8-of-22 and knocking in 14 RBIs, Thibodeaux believes his team needs to understand the pitch count a little better. Getting themselves in a plus pitch count is something Thibodeaux wants to see more out of his team going forward. On top of that, he thinks Franklin County needs to be more prepared for fastballs because he said the Bulldogs let those type of pitches come to them instead instead of attacking it.

Although those were the areas Thibodeaux believes Franklin County needs to improve upon, he knows it is still early in the season as the Bulldogs now sit at 6-4 on the year.

“We had a couple kids that their arms were kind of hurting,” Thibodeaux said. “We also had a few kids with some back problems. But those have been working themselves out, so that helps out a lot.”

With the Bulldogs getting back to 100-percent healthy, Thibodeaux expects Franklin County to continue its strong hitting. However, he only assumes that if it continues to clean up its situational awareness issue.

“I’m excited about the kids that we have,” Thibodeaux said. “They can hit it, but they have to understand, whenever it’s their turn what situation is called and have a good approach at the plate. Can we score some runs? Yes, but we have to be ready for whatever pitch is thrown.”

While the Bulldogs had mixed emotions about the win, the Green Wave only had one emotion: disappointment.

Cathedral had four players missing, but coach Craig Beesley said that’s no excuse for making mistakes.

“We still aren’t (throwing enough strikes or catching fly balls) or good enough at it,” Beesley said.

The Green Wave did have to save two pitchers during the game, as they were set to take on Loyd Star immediately after which was a 14-2 loss in four innings. So, Cathedral threw some younger pitchers — seventh and eighth graders — against Franklin County.

“I thought (the inexperience pitchers) did alright,” Beesley said. “The more time they get on the mound, the better they will get.”

Overall, Beesley was pleased with the younger players who experienced their first varsity action on Monday. But, he was concerned with how the Green Wave took a step back from last Friday’s game against North Pike.

Beesley thought Cathedral’s game against North Pike was the best outing of the Green Wave’s season thus far. They fought hard against what Beesley thought was a tough team. However, Cathedral just couldn’t build upon that performance.

“We just didn’t follow it up with a good game today,” Beesley said.

Moving forward, Beesley wants to see the Green Wave’s younger players continue to progress and the upperclassmen to become better leaders.

“As long as these young kids continue to play, continue to work, continue to progress, and the older kids have to be leaders,” Beesley said. “There’s only four of them out there, but they have to be leaders for us. I know it’s hard for them to see so many young players playing behind them, but as long as they keep a positive attitude and (the) younger kids continue to get better, that’s all I can ask for.”