Successful senior night for Bulldogs

Balloons and posters covered the dugout but there was no distracting the Athens High Bulldogs. They had a goal and were determined to achieve it. And they did as they walked away with the TVC-Ohio Championship.

Beating the Meigs Marauders handily 8-1, the Bulldogs improved to 16-7 overall and 10-1 in the league. This was not only an important win because of the Championship, it was also senior night.

And the seniors were there to win.

Raven Cline, who has been an impressive asset all year, struggled in her first three at bats but had two catches in center field. She also hit a sailing double to left field resulting in a run off of the sacrifice from fellow senior and catcher Richelle Hecker.

Hecker also had a great final regular season game with some strong at bats and a scoring single.

Pitcher Jayne Seymour was playing for a shutout. While Meigs did score a sole run, her performance was still memorable.

Seymour sat out much of last season with an injury incurred while throwing the ball overhand, something her arm was not used to. She spent the offseason rehabilitating and it paid off.

“It’s been feeling good lately and so I came in knowing that I would be able to throw hard as long as I could,” she said.

While she seemed a little dissatisfied with her hitting, she had a double and contributed to Athens’ eight runs.

The seniors dominated the lineup but they were not the only ones who were playing with a purpose.

Sophomore Abby Pimento had a successful game at shortstop with a catch that rivaled Brianna Scurry’s saves on the soccer field. Perhaps it is Pimento’s goalie background that gave her the impetus to reach for that ball but nonetheless it was spectacular- and she would agree.



“That felt amazing and it’s always good when your ready and jumping; you feel so free,” she said.

Coach Sheila Ross was equally impressed with her team’s performance. After the game she enjoyed a brief shower courtesy of flying water balloons but she did not seem to mind.

“Yes, they are enjoying this and they should,” she said.

She was right, they should celebrate. The Bulldogs were coming off of a two-game losing streak and momentum seemed to be down. It was evident though, from the first inning when they scored four runs in six at bats, that this game would be different.

“Having a two game losing streak coming into tonight, we definitely wanted to get off to a good start,” Ross said.

Meigs, on the other hand struggled from the very beginning. They failed to score a run until the sixth inning and pitcher Hally English struggled to contain the Bulldog’s bats.

Coach Steven Wood said that the Marauders struggled all season with making the kind of solid contact that Athens was achieving.

“We fought hard and tried to make it a game but their offense was really tough,” he said.

But the Marauders were not sore losers. The entire team stayed after the game to participate in some of the senior night festivities.

Athens even presented the Meigs’ seniors with small tokens of congratulations on their final season.

Ross stood outside the dugout and announced each senior and her parents along with a humorous list of favorite memories that included some things she just could not say. The stands were filled with proud friends and family and the smiles and laughter were infectious.

It would have been a perfect ending, but this is not the end. The Bulldogs will participate in the tournament and if they can keep this spirit and momentum they will be a force that demands attention.