Fort Dorchester High School softball coach Shae Russell is pleased by her team’s productivity at the plate this playoff season.
The Patriots struggled this season, often because of slow starts offensively.
But the team seems to be making progress now that the state playoffs have arrived.
The Fort eliminated Aiken High School Saturday with a 10-5 victory on the road.
Shelby Barker got the win on the mound after throwing 6 1/2 innings. Alisha Coleman relieved her in the middle of the seventh inning with bases loaded and got the Patriots out of the inning safely.
But for Russell, the really encouraging thing about the victory is the offensive effort.
“The team is finally starting to wake up their bats, and just in time,” Russell said. “In our first two playoff games we had 9 and 10 hits respectively. We had a rocky defensive game against North Augusta, but settled down against Aiken. They have started understanding that the play-off season is completely different and they have to play like there is nothing to lose.”
Leea Polin went 2-for-3 at the plate Saturday with a walk. She drove in three runs.
Nneka Gibson had a base-clearing double and also finished with three RBIs.
Megan Strickland and Brandi Gibson both went 2-for-4 at the plate.
With the win, the Patriots advanced to a rematch with North Augusta. The game was played Monday night after press time.
On Thursday, the Fort dropped its playoff opener to North Augusta by an 8-1 margin. The Patriots had nine hits in the game, but North Augusta also had nine and made the best of its hits.
Kaitlyn Kerley led the Fort batters, going 2-for-3 at the plate.

You can reach Roger Lee by calling 873-9424 or emailing rlee@journalscene.com.