By Tom Waddill
Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE —
The Lady Hornets played their best round of golf Monday at Raven Nest Golf Club. Unfortunately for the Huntsville girls, they are stuck in District 18-4A with two, and probably three, of the top teams in the state.
Led by junior Madison Ward, who shot a solid 79, Huntsville’s varsity team posted a 349 team score during the first round of the District 18-4A tournament. That total puts the Lady Hornets in fourth place behind Montgomery Gold (310), Montgomery Purple (313) and Magnolia A (319) heading into today’s final round.
“That’s definitely our low round this year,” Huntsville golf coach Marcus Evans said Monday afternoon. “... There’s no question that 349 would be leading every other district in our region. That’s probably a fact, but we just happen to be in the toughest district for golf in the entire state.”
Playing with the top teams from both Montgomery and Magnolia, squads that finished first and second at the state tournament last spring, the Lady Hornets attacked their home course with energy and enthusiasm.
Ward admitted to being intimidated after learning she would be paired with Montgomery’s Marissa Bransburg (75) and Kendall Anderson (77) of Magnolia, but she settled down, found a comfort zone and played her game.
“My goal was to enjoy myself, just relax and not put pressure on myself,” Ward said after signing her scorecard early Monday afternoon.
Ward played well all the way around the course. Her teammate Jesse Oden fought through some problems with her driver and shot an 87.
“I kind of scrambled around a little bit,” Oden said. “My driver was going up and down, plus I missed a birdie putt that was so makeable. For how I hit my driver, though, I’m happy I managed an 87.”
Leslie Beaird turned in an 89 for the Lady Hornets, Lauren Rogers had a 94 and Tara Truax came in with a 110.
“All of the girls did a good job today, from Lauren’s 94 to Leslie 89, Jesse’s 87, and of course, Madison’s 79,” Evans said. “These girls have been working hard knowing what a difficult district they’re playing in. They were all out hitting balls after the round, getting ready for the next round.”
Ward fired a 3-over-par 38 on the front nine Monday, and she could have been lower had it not been for an unfortunate break on the par-4 fifth hole. Ward hit her tee shot into the hazard, dropped, then plugged her ball into the lip of the greenside bunker.
After making a triple-bogey 7 on the hole, Ward quickly recovered and finished the front side with four straight pars.
“The first nine was solid, with one disaster hole,” Ward said. “I got it back together, then had a few bad holes on the back. In the past, either my short game or my long game was off. I never could combine them for a whole round. But for the most part today, everything was working pretty good.”
Ward has the Lady Hornets’ best shot at advancing to the Region III tournament, which is also scheduled at Raven Nest on April 19-20. The top two individual players who are not on an advancing team qualify for the regional tournament.
“Madison has a shot,” Evans said with confidence. “She’s going to have to play another great round because there are some girls who posted some very good scores today.”
The low score of the day was turned in by Montgomery Gold’s Abbey Bradley. She shot a 1-under 70 as the top player on the Lady Bears’ No. 2 team.
Montgomery coach Rusty Herridge gambled a bit when he put together his two teams. According to Evans, Herridge mixed and matched his best players in an attempt to qualify both squads for the regional tournament.
The strategy paid off in the first round, with the Lady Bears’ No. 2 team posting the day’s best team total and Montgomery’s No. 1 bunch shooting a 313, which puts them six strokes ahead of Magnolia.
“Montgomery actually didn’t play their true number one and true number two teams,” Evans said. “They split their players up, which makes their second team stronger. That’s their attempt to advance both of their teams over Magnolia.”
Huntsville’s No. 2 team shot a 445 total, which places them seventh behind Brenham (365) and Magnolia B (365), and ahead of Magnolia West (448).
Kaitlin Williams fired the low round for Huntsville II with a 108. Kalyn Cooper shot a 111, while Sarah Thompson and Kaitlyn Ware turned in 113s. Kara Ware had a 116 for the Lady Hornets’ second squad.
Round two gets under way today at 8 a.m. with Huntsville’s No. 1 team going off the first tee with players from Brenham and Magnolia B.
Players from Montgomery’s two teams will be paired with the Lady Bulldogs from Magnolia in the final groups that will start just before 9 a.m.
