The Bravettes have been practicing in the evenings in order to try to beat the heat of recent hot summer days. Coach Charlene Dunn wants her team to reach the state playoffs in the upcoming 2017 season.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Although it may look like a small one to outsiders, the Baldwin High School softball program (8-13 last year) took an important step last season under head coach Charlene Dunn.

The Bravettes earned their first region win in Dunn’s then two-plus year tenure and now have their goals set higher in 2017.

“We’re trying to get on that road to the state playoffs,” the head coach said prior to Wednesday evening’s practice. “Now we’ve got to be able to beat at least two teams out of our region to get into the state playoffs. This year we’re going to try and knock off at least two. We’re going to try to knock off more than that, but we want to knock off at least two.”

Last year was the first for BHS as a member of Region 3-AAAA, which is made up of member schools in the Augusta area. The Bravettes were able to defeat the Academy of Richmond County but were otherwise winless in region play. With six teams in the division the top four get to advance to the state tournament. Burke County and Thomson figure to be the class of the region once again, so BHS will need to look for wins against Hephzibah or Cross Creek. Although the team’s roster count currently sits higher than it has any year under Dunn (20 players), finding those wins in a more difficult schedule will not be an easy task in 2017 after the loss of five seniors.

“It’s going to hurt us this year because we graduated five girls,” Dunn said. “All but one had been playing ever since tee-ball and wee ball days, so we did lose some girls that are going to be hard to replace. What we’ve been working on this summer is rotating girls at different positions to see who we can get to fill those slots.”

One vacancy is arguably the most important one on the diamond as pitcher Rachel Tavarres has moved on to compete at the college level at the University of South Carolina-Sumter. Dunn said finding her replacement has been one of the main objectives during the summer practice session.

“The biggest part of practice this year is trying to get a pitcher for the mound. We have four girls that we’ve been working with, and I think that three of them are going to be ready to take us through the season. It’s just a matter of picking who’s going to be the leading pitcher at this point because it’s up in the air still.”

The Bravettes do have a couple of players returning, however, that the head coach will look to for significant production. Courtney Thomas, a rising junior, is one candidate to fill the starting pitching spot and was one of the team’s best hitters last season with a .371 batting average. Rising senior speedy MaKayla Ricks will be asked to wreak havoc on the base paths whenever she reaches. Tamia James, a sophomore, was also singled out by her coach as someone who has been putting in a lot of work this summer.

“That girl has heart. She’s been out here since about 5 o’clock going through hitting practice with her father,” Dunn said at the team’s 6 p.m. practice.

A trip to the opening round of the state playoffs may be a possibility, but the chances of BHS earning the right to play among the final eight teams to decide the GHSA Class 4A state championship are slim. Either way the fourth-year head coach wants to make the journey with her girls just so they can see what it takes.

“I want that to be one of the things that we do as a team because I’m feeling like if they can actually go and see what state is all about — the excitement and adrenaline of it all — then maybe they’ll have that drive.”

The Bravettes open the 2017 season Aug. 7 at home against Lake Oconee Academy at 5 p.m.