Plano East senior Jadyn Dawson exchanges a handshake with Lady Panthers head coach Lauren Peterson after she hit her 100th home run during an April 1 road game at McKinney Boyd. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media
By David Wolman
During her first at bat against McKinney Boyd, Plano East senior Jadyn Dawson said that she got just under the ball.
“I just missed it (home run) by two inches,” she said.
When Dawson came up to bat for the second time during the April 1 game, she told herself, “Get something hard on the line, something hard on the ground, something to get through the infield.”
With the bases loaded and Plano East trailing McKinney Boyd 2-0 in the top of the third inning, Dawson swung at the fifth pitch that she saw.
Dawson won the inches game this time around.
The ball went over the wall in left field for a grand slam, the 100th career home run for Dawson, going all the way back to when she played for her club team, Glory Adkins. More importantly, it gave Plano East a 4-2 lead. The Lady Panthers went on to win the ballgame 5-4.
“It was definitely a feeling that I don’t think that I’ll forget,” she said. “Going into that game against McKinney Boyd, it was a big one. We needed that one to stay in the playoffs.
“I went in there knowing going off that first at bat, knowing that I had just missed it, that I just needed to put the ball in play for my team. We were down 2-0. I just wanted to get something in the gap that could score runs for us. It worked out great.”
As soon as Dawson touched home plate, she looked at her mother, Jamie, who was sitting in the stands, and blew her a kiss.
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