Springs Valley Community High School

As the Springs Valley girls’ golf team waited for other teams to finish their rounds and scores to be tallied at the Bedford North Lawrence sectional on Saturday, there was quite a bit of tension. The Blackhawks hadn’t played their best, but they’d well, finishing with a team score of 407. As they waited to see if they could crack the top three team scores and advance to regional as a team, the question they asked themselves quickly became “Is good going to be good enough?” As it turned out, good was good enough. The Blackhawks edged out Brownstown Central by two strokes to claim a third-place finish. The result gave the Blackhawks their first team berth at the Washington Regional since 2019 and third in the last five seasons, meaning that all five of the girls who played on Saturday — Mia Cruz, Macy Hall, Dallas Hendrix, Karmen Hall, and Logan Watts — will get to test their mettle against some of the best competition in the state at Country Oaks Golf Course. “It’s really exciting and a little nerve-wracking,” Cruz said. “We have two freshmen and one is completely new so she’s nervous, but I think they’ll do just fine. Overall I think it’s going to be pretty exciting and they’ll gain some experience as well which will help us next year.” Springs Valley’s third-place finish was a particularly big one for Macy Hall. The senior’s individual score, a 97, would’ve been good enough to get her into the regional round even without her teammates, but she wanted to close her career with her whole team on the course competing. Saturday’s regional will be her fourth, an impressive accomplishment considering she didn’t take up golf until her freshman year and it’s an unclassified sport, meaning she’s had to compete with golfers from much bigger schools pretty regularly. “It means so much. I was nervous last year and I pulled it out, but I was really nervous today. It’s a great feeling, honestly,” Macy Hall said. “I don’t know how many have done it, but it’s an honor to be one of the few that have.” The senior’s wealth of experience when it comes to playing at regional will be valuable to Springs Valley as it prepares to head over to Country Oaks once again. The only other Blackhawk who’s played in the event before is Cruz, meaning that each of Karmen Hall, Hendrix, and Watts will be making their regional debut. “When I was a freshman I was extremely nervous (going into regional), so I’m going to make sure that they know it’s ok to mess up,” Macy Hall said. “These are the best girls in the state, some of them are going to [the State Finals], so have high expectations for yourself, but don’t let that faze you because you made it here, you’re good enough to be here.” The Washington Regional will tee off at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sep. 24 and though the Blackhawks know that they’ll have their hands full when they finally do get on the course, they’re determined to give the meet their best effort. “I think we have to define [success] in ourselves,” Cruz said. “We’re always going to try to beat the teams we’re playing, but in a field like that we have to focus more on what we can do to better ourselves personally.” Team Scores Bedford North Lawrence 327, Seymour 385, Springs Valley 407, Brownstown Central 409, Paoli 445, Eastern Greene 454, Mitchell 500, Orleans NTS Individual Scores Springs Valley — Mia Cruz 93, Macy Hall 97, Dallas Hendrix 108, Karmen Hall 109, Logan Watts 132