Photo Credit : Kelly Hawks
Carroll County Senior Emma Leath joined Sydney Nester in the 600 Strikeout club on her way to tossing her second consecutive complete game shutout as the Lady Cavaliers cruised to a 10-0 victory over Grayson County Monday night. The large crowd enjoyed the effort from start to finish as the team remained perfect on the season
Leath entered the game needing six to reach the mark and did it in style by picking up one in the first inning, two in the second inning and striking out the side in the third. The fact that the one that put her at 600 was the final out of the inning allowed for an extended window to celebrate the feat.
(Allen – this one I took from the press box with the ball in the air on the final strike, not meant for the bigger story).
Leath would add two more to her total to land at 602 as the Lady Cavs offense ended the game early by reaching the mercy rule lead of 10-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The final stat line for the complete game win was 8 K’s, 5 hits, 0 walks and 0 earned runs.
CCHS hit the ground running in the bottom of the first inning when the first three batters reached base and scored in a four run first frame. Addie Greene led off with a single and both Leath and Katherine Lindamood worked the court for walks to load the bases. One out later Isabella Norman lined a shot to centerfield that plated the first run and Laiken Burnett, Brooke Webb and Holly Miller each picked up one RBI in the rally that included 10 Cavaliers getting to the batters box.
Grayson County led off the second inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs but Leath escaped with no damage, thanks in large part to the defense of Emma Harman and catcher Natalie Burress. Following a Blue Devil strikeout, Chasity Wilson sent a hard hit ball in the direction of Harman who made a clean play and fired the ball home where Burress corralled it on a short hop for the force out. Leath would snuff out the uprising with another strikeout, which turned out to be the first of four straight.
” That was a big play for us on both ends,” said Coach Rick Nester. ” Emma (Harman) getting to the ball and Natalie (Burress) making the great stab to finish it.”
No Blue Devil reached second base the remainder of the game while CCHS would go on to add runs in all five innings. The team recorded a second straight error-free effort that led to another shutout, following up the 9-0 victory Friday night at Patrick County.
The offense was opertunistic from start to finish, scoring 10 runs on just seven base hits. Discipline at the plate allowed the Lady Cavaliers to earn 10 walks in addition to reaching on one hit batter and two GCHS fielding errors. Greene, Leath and Harman each scored two runs while Miller collected two hits.
Carroll County rallied from down 8-2 in the Junior Varsity game to pull within 8-7 and had the tying run in scoring position before falling by that same score. Arizona Thompson scored three runs and Bayliegh Allen collected three base hits to lead the Cavaliers offense.
Carroll County (8-0) will travel up to Radford Thursday night and return to The Hill on Friday to host Galax at 6pm.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 