Mid-Season Review Varsity Softball
Lady Hornets: 9 – 0 MaxPreps #3 team in Georgia
 
Pure and simple dominance! The Lady Hornets have been incredible so far during the 2019 Season. The Diamond Hornets have been a machine grinding out multiple “Run-Rule” victories over the early part of their schedule. Coach Danny Camp has his ladies playing very consistent and executing their style of play to perfection.
 
The Lady Hornets have outstanding pitching in Junior Emma Williams and Freshman Sydney Langdon. Ellie Williams, Sadie Hayes, and Marena Knowles are leading a Westfield offense that is averaging 9.66 runs per game. Ellie Williams recently broke the Westfield base on balls record (55) which adds yet another record to her tally. Last season she broke the all-time home run record for the Lady Hornets. Emma Williams has also reached a huge milestone in her Westfield career, earning her 500th strikeout against Windsor just two weeks ago.
 
Right now Westfield is the team to beat in GISA AAA Softball. The Lady Hornets are the 2-time defending state champion and have a huge class of junior talent that will surely challenge for a 3-peat this season. The scary thing for opponents is this Westfield team hasn’t hit their stride yet. Gang Green’s suffocating offense uses power, speed, aggressive base running and the occasional bunt to churn out runs throughout each inning of games.
 
Now that the Hornets have gotten Senior Jordan Camp and Junior Avery Adams back from injury, Westfield should begin to round into form as they make the stretch run towards region play and the State playoffs. They will need to rely on their extreme talent and also their pitching depth as they seek to win their 3rd title in 3 years.
 
Who can challenge these Lady Hornets? :
The answer to that question is a familiar foe: Bulloch Academy. The Lady Gators pushed the Lady Hornets to 3 games last season in the championship series. They nearly pulled off the huge upset and will use that loss to fuel their drive to return to a rematch with the Lady Hornets. Westfield also needs to be on the lookout for Trinity-Christian, Southland and John Milledge. All signs are point towards a Lady Hornet 3-peat but the game is played on the field and not on paper. Right now Coach Danny Camp wants his girls focusing on the game in front of them instead of the bigger picture. As he always tells his team: “little things turn into BIG THINGS!”

​
​








​Game 3 Preview
Westfield School (0 – 2) vs. Southland Academy (1 – 0)
7:30pm September 6, 2019
​
The Hornets will travel down Highway 127 to Americus this Friday to take on another longtime rival, the Southland Academy Raiders. The Raiders come into this matchup with a 1-0 record after they defeated Southwest Georgia Academy last Friday 30-21. Raider’s running back, Clay Owens, led the Raiders with 140 yards on 19 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. Jake Kennon and Nathan Duke anchored Southland on the defensive side of the ball.
 
In 2018, Westfield faced off against the Raiders twice, once in the regular season and once in the playoffs. The Hornets lost their first matchup against Southland 15-14 in a game that saw the Hornet defense stifle Southland for 3 quarters only to lose the lead late in the contest. Later in the season Westfield faced off against a more organized and well-oiled Raider squad who rolled to a 35-7 victory over a sluggish Hornet gang.
 
Keys for the Hornets:
Westfield must play turnover free football on Friday if they are to get a victory. Southland will bring a similar attack that they used last season and will look very similar to Terrell Academy on Offense. Westfield did a solid job for a half of football against Terrell but eventually wore down due to a major time of possession advantage for the Eagles. The Hornets can ill afford another outing where the offense struggles to move the ball and fails to provide rest for their defense.
 
Gang Green looked much more comfortable at home during week 2. They have to translate that development into an increase in scoring and game management. The plan this week will be to attack the Southland defense with misdirection in the run game and short/decisive pass completions to stretch the defense for the run game. Defensively, the Hornets know that Southland will want to get on the edge with their skill players and create big plays. Westfield must stay disciplined in their defensive approach by keeping everything in front of them. The Hornets can’t commit too much to the window dressing that Southland will present during the pre-snap formations.
 
Ultimately, the Hornets have to help the Hornets win this game. In the first two games of 2019, Westfield was somewhat its own worst enemy. Limiting turnovers, penalties and opponent big plays will go a long way for the Hornets to gain their first victory. Coach Bruce Lane has made his mark on this program in his short time with the Hornets and Westfield seemed to turn the corner in their close loss last week to Deerfield-Windsor. If Gang Green can take a couple of more steps forward in their development, we should start seeing Hornet victories sooner rather than later!

Game 2 Recap
Deerfield-Windsor vs. Westfield: Deerfield-Windsor Wins 19-14

​The Westfield Hornets hosted the Knights from Deerfield-Windsor on Friday night. The Hornets got off to a strong start and were able to lead in this game for much of the first half. Unfortunately for the Hornets, Westfield’s Achilles heel showed up once again towards the end of the first half with a bad snap over punter Michael Fitzpatrick’s head which led to a direct touchdown by Deerfield-Windsor.
 
Westfield then struggled to stop the Knight’s run game in the second half which saw Deerfield-Windsor take control of the line of scrimmage in the Third Quarter. Westfield made this a game late, having a chance to win with under 5 minutes to play. The score was 19 – 14 with Deerfield-Windsor leading. Westfield drove the ball all the way down inside the 15 yard line of the Knights and faced a 4th & 5. Beck Beckham’s pass to Hunter Spence was completed short of the line to gain and the Knights took over on downs. The Knights were then able to run the clock out and secure a rivalry victory on the road.
 
Game Takeaways: 
Westfield improved greatly from week 1 to week 2 and had a legitimate chance to take down the Knights yet again. Much like last year’s game with Deerfield, Westfield had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win. Those are all good signs for Coach Bruce Lane and his squad. The good news is these early games are only significant in terms of getting better and for bragging rights. They have no bearing on playoff positioning.
 
Westfield played a much more complete game in this contest compared to game 1. The Hornets continue to need improvement on the Offensive Line and also have to figure out a way to limit turnovers. If the Hornets can stop beating themselves they should have a great chance at a very successful year moving forward. Westfield Fans can be optimistic about the growth that the Hornets made from week 1 to week 2.
 
The Hornets need to continue to develop the short passing game and stretch the field wide in the running game. On defense, Westfield has done a pretty good job of limiting big plays and forcing teams to drive the length of the field. They need to continue to keep everything in front of them and make teams put together long drives in order to score points. The Hornets look to get even better as they head to Southland Academy this coming Friday!