Story by:  David Dawson

Photos by:  Christian Taylor (@CTCreativeWork)

BRENTWOOD — The Ravenwood High School softball team got everything they wanted out of this weekend's Brentwood Invitational.

Well, almost everything.

"The only thing we were missing was timely hits," said Ravenwood senior Avery Wissmar, the cleanup hitter in the Lady Raptors' lineup. "But overall, we did a lot of good things that are really going to help us as we go into district play."

Although the Lady Raptors posted a 1-3 record during the two-day tournament, the team came away from the weekend feeling encouraged and excited.

Head coach Allison Brown was especially pleased with the level of competitiveness shown by the the Lady Raptors, who downed Goodpasture, 6-1, on Friday, but were saddled with three hard-luck losses in their other tournament action. The three defeats came by a combined total of four runs.

"We have a really young team, and I was really proud of how we played this weekend," said Brown. "I am excited that we were able to come out here and get this experience. I felt like we improved as a team, and that was really our goal for the weekend. We wanted to get better. And we did that."

The Brentwood Invitational is traditionally among the largest softball tournaments in Williamson County, but this year's event was scaled back due to COVID. Still, this year's 20-team tournament had plenty of quality squads — which made it all the more appealing for Brown.

"We wanted to play against teams who go deep into the postseason each year because that is the only way you are going to get better — playing good competition," she said. "And I really challenged the girls. I told them going into the weekend that this was kind of a gut check for us. This is our chance to see what we are made of. Because we knew if can hang with these teams, we can take that into our district and we can play with anybody."

In their final game of the tournament, the Lady Raptors were held in check by Columbia Academy's Journey Mitchell, who tossed a one-hit shutout and recorded eight strikeouts in the five-inning game. (All of the tournament games were played with a one hour, 15-minute time limit).

Ravenwood's best scoring chance came in the first inning, when leadoff hitter Lexi Erickson drew a walk, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. But Erickson was stranded at third when the inning ended with a strikeout — the third strikeout of the frame.

Ravenwood had several more scoring opportunities — Cameron Taylor had a one-out single in the second, Hailey Donato drew a two-out walk in the third and Gracie Bennett coaxed a lead-off walk in the fifth — but could never push a run across.

Donato, a freshman, said she believes this weekend's games will benefit the Lady Raptors in the long run.

"We got to see some things in this tournament that we haven't seen yet this season, so that's a good thing," said Donato. "Playing against good teams like we did in this tournament is really going to help us in district play."

Brown said she believes her team's best softball is ahead of them.

"It's really just a matter of making some small changes, here and there," she said. "I told the girls that this game is a lot like life. Whatever is thrown at you, you kind of have to adjust on the fly."

Ravenwood will be in tournament action again next weekend when they host the Lady Raptor Invitational.

Ravenwood 6, Goodpasture 1 

The Lady Raptors scored four runs in the bottom of the second to take an early lead and pick up a win in the opener for Ravenwood in the Brentwood Invitational. 

Both Avery Wissmar and Linley Pittman drove in two runs apiece for the Lady Raptors, while Ella Sasser added a double. Wissmar struck out three in four innings of work, allowing two hits and one earned with no walks. 

The Lady Raptors fell 4-2 in their second game against Stewarts Creek. 

Lexi Erickson and Avery Wissmar both collected two hits for Ravenwood, which out-hit Stewarts Creek 8-4, but stranded six on base. Both Wissmar and Taylor Webb had RBIs for the Lady Raptors. 

Ravenwood faces Wilson Central Saturday morning and closes the tournament against Blackman in the afternoon at Brentwood. 

Full story on Williamson Herald