88% chance of rain 🌧 at 6pm = 12% chance it will not, right ?
Last night we came up with a back up plan to protect what I have been calling our Mount Rushmore moment and now, sadly it looks like we might have to put said plan to use.
We couldn’t do it on Tuesday or Wednesday night because of the weather and Thursday night because Jabin Talley was up in Covington playing a match. Now we have a green light for tonight but once again we are Battling Mother 👩 Nature.
The game versus Radford has to be played because it decides if the Bobcats make the post season. The backup plan for the game is Monday night and we know that Ashlyn Newman will be over in Stuart playing Soccer ⚽️ that evening.
It would appear that Carroll County will land in the #4 spot in Regional play and that would put us at Home next Friday night and then its more than likely that we will be heading over to Staunton River for the semifinals. We will have a chance to do what nobody else has done this year which is beat Staunton River, it just won’t happen at Cavalier Park.
This will leave us next Friday as an option to invite Newman, Talley and Alyssa Ervin to join Emma Leath for a ceremony and first pitch. They will all be invited to do so next week and I hope it works out if it rains 🌧 today.
Hence, the Photo 📷 itself will be taken today either way because its simply that important to preserve the four years these tremendous four Student Athletes have given to us.
But, hey, there’s still a 12% percent chance it won’t rain !!!
Other games and matches hanging in the balance are :
CCHS hosting Floyd County in tennis 🎾
CCHS JV Baseball ⚾️ hosting Alleghany at 5pm for the District Tourney crown 👑.
The Hill – Freshman Laynie-Jo Leonard raced home from third base with the game winning run in Carroll County’s 3-2 victory over James River Thursday night. The thrilling Three Rivers District victory gave the regular season title to the Lady Cavilers in what many expected to be a rebuilding season for Head Coach Rick Nester.
” I am so very proud of the amount of fight this group has, especially when you consider just how young we are ” said Nester. ” We were able to bounce back after James River tied it up and then scored the winning run without a ball leaving the infield.”
Leonard led off the bottom of the seventh inning by working the Knights Makenna Saville for a base on balls. Leonard fell behind in the count before fouling off a number of pitches until she took ball four.
Holly Miller laid down a near perfect sacrifice bunt that the speedster nearly beat out for a base hit. The call at first base was the second of two bang bang calls that didn’t go the home teams way but it did get Leonard into scoring position.
Emma Leath came to the plate and quickly grounded a ball back up the middle. The play would go in the score book as a 6-3 ground out but it also advanced Leonard over to third base. Addie Greene would follow with a ground ball to almost the same spot but this time the throw to first base was rushed and uncatchable, allowing Leonard to score the game winner.
The game ending on an error, the only misque on the night by either side took very little away from a game where both teams relied on their strength from start to finish.
Leath entered the contest needing three strikeouts to tie the CCHS school record of 694 and four to break it. The four year starter took care of that by the second inning and appeared to be as dominant as ever.
Carroll County scratched out a run in the bottom of the second by stringing together three singles. Madison Coleman picked up the RBI, driving in Emma Harman to give Leath a 1-0 lead.
Coleman was in the middle of the Lady Cavaliers second run in the bottom of the fifth inning as well. She led off with an infield single, advanced on a Leonard single and scored on a Miller RBI single to push the lead to 2-0.
Pitching and defense is the strength of Carroll County (16-3, 9-2) and Wagner University signee Ripley Barry is the strength of James River. Leath was trying to close out the top of the sixth with three consecutive ground outs to Greene but the third one turned into an infield single after a diving attempt by the short stop that didn’t yield a throw.
Barry came to the plate having been struck out in both of her two previous times but guessed correctly on the second pitch and homered over the left field fence to tie the game at 2-2.
Leath would finish up with 11 strikeouts and just four hits and two runs allowed in earning victory #60. The defense played flawlessly behind her and only three balls made it to the outfield all night.
The leadoff walk by Leonard allowed the team to play small ball to secure the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the crowd home happy once again. The team stands at 7-2 at Cavalier Park with one game to play after going a sparkling 9-1 on the road.
CCHS looks to get back on the diamond Friday at 6:30 with a Varsity only contest versus Radford.
The ceremony planned for 6:10 pm will be moved over to the CCHS Gymnasium if weather prevents the game being played. The game itself would be moved over to Monday if that is the case.
The Junior Varsity team closed out its season with a 15-6 victory over JRHS in a game shortened to five innings.
Emma Leath has been conducting business from inside Coach Rick Nester’s pitching circle 🔵 for just shy of four full seasons now. Thursday night the Senior managed to strike out 11 Knights along the way to a complete game 3-2 victory. The victory clinched the regular season Three Rivers District Championship for a very young and overcheaving team that now sits at 16-3 heading into the regular season finale against Radford tomorrow night 🌙.
Two of Leaths 11 K’s had significant meaning to the Cavalier faithful. The fourth one of the night put her career number at 695, breaking the record previously held by CCHS alum Sydney Nester.
While its not high quality capture because of the fence, it is the record breaking KO.
#700, on her way to 702. The victory is #60, the other CCHS record that Leath wrestled away from Nester a few weeks back against Alleghany.
Leath now holds the two most significant pitching records in the history of Lady 👩 Cavalier softball and will continue to add to those numbers over the coming days.
Addie Greene is our Freshman Short Stop and in line to be the next Carroll County pitching ace. Greene took her game to another level Thursday night and actually took me back to the at bat in the 1980″s where Kirk Gibson hobbled to the plate and crushed a Home Run to win Game 1 of the World Series.
Greene sacrificed her body through out the contest as the team looked to avenge a tough loss earlier this year up in Buchanan. In the top of the sixth inning Greene made consecutive plays to record 6-3 put outs but a diving attempt on the next one led to a pair of things, an infield single and a banged up Greene.
With a runner on base, Wagner University signee Ripley Barry caught up with the only mistake Leath made, depositing it just over the left field fence to tie the game at 2-2 in the sixth inning.
Carroll County didn’t flinch and plated the game winning run without the ball leaving the infield. Freshman Laynie-Jo Leonard led off by earning a base on balls after falling behind early in the count. Holly Miller followed with a perfect bunt that the speedster came within an eyelash of beating it out but it put Leonard in scoring position with just one out.
Leath sent a ball to the hole 🕳 that the short stop fielded and retired her 6-3 but now Leonard is standing on third base. Two outs and the District winning run 🏃♂️ is standing on third base with Greene coming to the plate.
How tough is this young Lady became obvious when Greene sent a shot in the direction of the same hole that Leath found. When it came time for Greene to try and beat out the throw to first base it quickly became obvious that she was operating on a gimpy ankle.
The term for winning a game in your last at bat is normally called a Walk Off but in this case it might be more fitting to call it a Limp Off. Greene had enough left in the tank to force a rushed throw that didn’t reach its target.
I’m not sure if anyone snapped a photo of Assistant Coach Jeff Tobler holding Greene upright while standing on first base after Leonard touched home plate.
Older readers might remember Willis Reed of the Knicks, some more can hear the famous Jack Buck call on the Gibson Home Run – “I don’t believe what I just saw.”
Greene is tough, and now we have an idea 💡 of just how tough. Here’s hoping 🙏 that her ankle sprain won’t keep her on the sidelines for too long.
If someone out there has that photo 📷 please let me know…
Carroll County spread the love around in their 10-1 victory as seven different Cavaliers touched home plate, seven picked up base hits while six drove home a run 🏃♂️.
Phillips and Barnett teamed up on the mound to limit the Highlanders to just five hits and one unearned run.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 