Day #5 is centered around checking out of the Hotel 🏨 rooms, loading up the Cars 🚗 and returning to life as they know it. With that said, a great deal of life took place while they were gone.

Two of the four games ended in the area of 11 pm which would have them getting back to their rooms in the area of Midnight. They dealt with weather delays and heat advisories yet managed their way to a third place finish in the State.

Let’s not forget the parents as they were following the same hit and miss schedule but would not have traded it for anything. That’s the common thread with most parents in Carroll County, unconditional love 💘 for their children and the joy that comes from watching 👀 their Sons and Daughters compete on ball fields and courts.

Travis Austin took the time to be our tour guide from start to finish and hopefully 🙏 some folks took the time to come along for the journey. Both Shane Reed and Ryan Largen added some thoughts in addition to Travis and we thank both of them as well !

Anyone out there that was a part of this adventure that has a note 📝 or photo 📷 they like to add, please send it in.

Congratulations 👏👏👏 on the 3rd place finish and kudos for the 3 run rally when down 9-2 late last night. As Travis said, No Quit in this group !

Halifax County (3-0) continues to win close ballgames and they will be the next hurdle for Carroll County (2-1) tonight at 7pm in the Final Four.

Carroll County drew Halifax County in the opening round as was clinging to a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning before losing in walkoff style 7-4.

Now with just four teams remaining in the seven team field, Carroll County will finish no lower than tied for 3rd place in the State.

The team will be looking to extend its stay in the Farmville area at least one more day and first pitch is set to be thrown at 7pm !

More to follow as the day plays out…

6pm Update :

We had a weather delay.

Patrick County just lost to Appomattox 15-7 in 6 innings.

We probably won’t see the field until 8:30 or 9 tonight.

Division 2 game is before ours, Clarksville and Amherst.

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Three teams remain – Halifax County (3-0), Appomattox (2-1) and Carroll County (2-1). A Carroll County victory pushes the team into a tie with Halifax and into a drawing for a Bye while a defeat leaves them tied for 3rd place with Patrick County.

Appomattox Community Park is the host site for the event.

The team Hotel 🏨 is in Farmville

Our Squad !

First Pitch ETA – 9pm

79° will feel like a cold 🥶 spell by comparison to the past few days !

1st Update :

Mason leads off and reaches on a throwing error by the shortstop and advances to 2nd on a wild pitch. Will walks. Mason and Will both advance on a passed ball. Alex hits a line drive to right center, scoring Mason and Will. Jace walks. New pitcher in for Halifax. Aiden hits into a fielders choice shortstop to first baseman. Both runners advance. Landon hits into fielders choice, pitcher to catcher tagging out Alex. 2-0 after the first half inning.

Halifax answers back with 3 runs in the bottom half to take the lead 3-2. Plenty of ball left to play.

Nothing doing for us in the top of the inning. Halifax pushes another one across the plate. 4-2 after 2.

Same result for us in the third. Halifax adds 4 more. 8-2 Halifax after 3.

Nothing going in the top of the 4th. Halifax leads 8-2 through 3.5. Plenty of fight left in our boys. Aiden Dority on the hill. We may be down, but we’re not out.

Halifax tacks on 1 more. 9-2 after 4.

10:52 pm – Carroll County won’t go quietly into the night….

Landon leads off with a dropped third strike and reaches in error. Grant and Ty both walk. Camden hits a fly ball to left, Landon tags up and scores. Grant to 3rd on throw home. Appomattox catcher throws to 3rd and it goes into left field. Grant scores, Ty to 2nd. Connor walks. Remington reaches on an error by the third baseman, Ty scores. We get 3 in the frame and trail 9-5 .

Aiden Dority holds Halifax scoreless in the bottom of the 5th. 9-5 through 5 complete. (11:01)

3 up, 3 down to end the game. 9-5 Halifax.

Shortly after 11pm on Day Four, the impressive run by our team comes to its conclusion. The official finish is tied for 3rd in the Commonwealth.

” Nothing to hang their heads about. Super proud of all these kids and all they’ve accomplished over their 4 year careers (most of them).”

Thank You Travis for helping share 🙏 the teams journey !

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Mr. Shane Reed checked in with his closing thoughts :

Finished 3rd, forth game in a row as the visitor, came out and scored 2 runs in the first, there were two play at home that didn’t go our way and we ended the first down 3-2. We struggled some in the field but battled back as the game went on. Eventually falling 9-5.

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Either Franklin County or Madison Heights awaits Carroll County today when the action 🎬 gets underway this afternoon.

Another victory would mean another Day in their Farmville 🏨 Hotel and their dreams of winning their State Championship remains alive. A second setback will end an incredibly exciting season.

Travis has checked in to confirm its Franklin County (0-1) as far as the opponent.

Our team will enjoy a 10° drop in the temperature 🌡

3:45 – check in by Travis

Some of the guys watching the Patrick County-Madison Heights game…

5:20 –

Game before ours is still going on. Patrick leads Madison Heights 11-4. Probably be 6 before we hit the field.

6:07 –

Will with a deep shot to left center for a double. Alex hit by a pitch, Jace doubles to center, Will scores, Alex advances to 3rd. Landon reaches on an error by the shortstop, Alex & Jace score. 3-0 after a half inning.

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6:16 – A couple of walks for Franklin County, but no runs come across the board. 3-0 after 1.

6:40 –

Grant singles to lead off the inning and steals second. Camden in as pinch runner. Connor hit by pitch, Remington beat out an infield single, Mason reaches on an error, Connor scores, Remington to 2nd. Remington steals 3rd, Mason steals 2nd. Will singles to left, Remington scores. 6-0 after 1.5 innings.

Will with an efficient inning on the mound. 6-0 after 2.

6:49 Jace singles to right field to open the 3rd and steals second, advances to 3rd on passed ball. Aiden walks, Landon reaches on a fielders choice, Aiden out at second, Jace scores. Ty with a fielders choice, pitcher to 2nd for the out. Grant reaches on an error, Ty to 2nd. Camden with a hard hit ball to left scores Ty. 8-0 after 2.5 innings.

6:53 – Alex Hawks now on the mound for Carroll. Another efficient inning. 8-0 after 3.

7:04 – Dane walks to start the 4th, Remington hits into a fielders choice second to shortstop, Dane out on the play. Remington steals 2nd. Mason singles to right, Remington to 3rd. Will hits into fielders choice, short to first, Remington scores. 9-0 after 3.5.

7:12 – Alex with 3 strikeouts in the 4th. 9-0 after 4.

7:57 – Grant and Camden both walk to start the 6th. Connor hits a hard ground ball single to right center scoring 2. Dane, Remington and Mason all walk. Will reaches on an error and Dane scores. Jace hits a deep ball to center fielder for a single scoring Remington. Aiden walks, scoring Mason. Landon singles to left, scoring Mason. Ty hits into a fielders choice scoring Jace. 17-0 after 5.5 innings. Landon Smith on the mound to finish up the game.

Final score 17-0. We will play the winner of Halifax and Appomattox tomorrow at 7 pm.

Only four teams remain now, meaning just 2 games on Monday. Carroll County (2-1) will be facing the lone 3-0 team in the 7pm nite cap.

Once again it will be Win or return to The Hill. Either way, our group has reached the Final Four in the State!

CC has outscored their opponents 37-1 over the past two days….

Hopefully for everyone involved the activities this morning 🌄 won’t hit full throttle for just a bit as Friday was a long day with extreme weather.

Carroll County is slated to play in an elimination game at 5:00 pm today or thereabouts. The start time for yesterday was pushed back due to some much needed rain 🌧 and ended just before 11pm. Best case scenario had the group back in Farmville just before Friday night turned into Saturday morning.

The ballplayers themselves are young and energetic so they will hopefully bounce back quickly but some of the parents might need an extra cup 🥤 of coffee ☕ this morning…

We will add updates throughout the day as they come our way. Here’s hoping the team gets time to enjoy the moment before First Pitch !

A few of the boys playing pool at the hotel

We came for baseball and a pool tournament broke out.

Hitting the pool for a little while. Keeping it short so they don’t end up burnt or wore out.

Mr. Shane Reed checked in to offer a politically correct statement on Game One last night 🌙 :

Let just go with it was a back and forth game with some tough breaks that didn’t happen to go our way last night. Thanks for everything….

Game One included some challenging calls and as Shane said, none of those calls went the way of Carroll County. Fortunately, its a double elimination tournament.

Game 2 has a start time of 5pm – give or take.

4:30 – Travis checks in, looking like 6pm might be closer to accurate for First Pitch

Game 2 prep going on now. (5:09)

Opponent – Henry County

ETA First Pitch – 5:35ish

Martinsville area…

If the team wins they advance to the 5pm game on Sunday. If they fall short tonight it will conclude their stay in Appomattox.

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Huge first inning for Carroll. Mason doubles up the middle. Will hit into fielders choice, pitcher throw home over the head of the catcher scoring Mason and Will safe at first. Alex hit into fielders choice, shortstop to first scoring Will. Landon hit by pitch, Aiden walked, Jace with a shot to RF for a single scoring Landon and sending Aiden to 3rd. Grant hit a single down the first base line, scoring 2. 6-0 after half an inning.

3 up 3 down for Jace Dolinger on 8 pitches. 6-0 after 1.

Remington hit by pitch, stole 2nd, Mason with another hard single up the middle. Remington scores, Mason to 2nd on the throw. Will with a shot to left for a 2 run homer. Alex singles to left, steals 2nd and 3rd. Aiden gets to first on an error by the 2nd baseman, Alex scores. 11-0 good guys through 1.5.

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Henry County scores 1 and was threatening when Mason Quesenberry turns an unassisted double play at SS. Remington Millaway comes on in relief with the bases loaded and induces an inning ending ground ball, Aiden to Jace for the 3rd out. 11-1 through 2 full. 5 minute heat break before next inning.

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Another huge inning. Grant singles to CF, Ty singles to CF. Grant scores, Ty advances to 2nd on throw home. Connor and Remington walk, Mason single to deep RF, Ty scores. Will beats out an infield single, Connor scores. Alex walks scoring Remington, Landon hit by pitch scoring Mason. Aiden walks scoring Will. Jace singles to RF, scoring Alex & Landon. Aiden to 3rd and Jace to 2nd on throw home. Grant singles and 3 runners left stranded. 20-1 through 3.5.

Ball Game !

Final score 20-1 in 3 innings.

Carroll County lives to play again !!!

We came out and played much well, pitchers made it easy on me calling pitches. Defense made plays and we had a good approach at the plate today 1-12

The 12 ballplayers :

Dane Austin

Jace Dolinger

Aiden Dougherty

Ty Hart

Alex Hawks

Camden Largen

Conner Lineberry

Remington Millaway

Will Motley

Mason Quesenberry

Grant Reed

Landon Smith

Did my best to put them in alphabetical order !

They have earned the right to play another day 👏 in Appomattox !

Today is the opening day of the seven team tournament and our Nine is slated to play ( weather permitting) just after the opening ceremony.

The bracket was provided by Mr. Bill Gallimore.

One game will be played ahead of the ceremony and then we will take the field against the team representing Halifax County (South Boston area).

Appomattox is the host team and received a bye in the opening round in the double elimination event. When Carroll County takes the field the second time will depend upon the results from their opener.

First things First, the team has to make the drive 🚗 up and over to Farmville. The team hotel 🏨 is located in Farmville ( home to Longwood University) and once they check in they will make the short drive 🚗 to the ballpark in Appomattox.

We will be along for the ride, beginning to end, in hopes of framing the trip for the players and families. This group of young ballplayers have worked hard all season with this goal in mind and we salute 👏 their efforts.

Each Post 📫 will be a day long post and it will include everything being sent our way – so Welcome 🙏 to Friday, in this case, Opening Day !

Please check back as the day gets played out…..

Ryan Largen checks in :

I liked the touch of this being their goal from the start.

Most of these boys played together from the Minors up and the goal was always to win the district, then aim for winning the state. They came up short as District runners up several times, but they always kept working. The players and the Coaches that were involved always knew what this team could be and accomplish. They always kept working! The coaches kept them true to it and put a lot of time into them.
Goal 1 is obviously completed! Goal 2 is within their grasp!

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Two more folks that wanted to say Go Carroll County !

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Getting close to Game Time !

98 that feels like 108…..

Travis checks in from the Ballpark

Current situation in Appomattox. Hopefully we’ll get started by 7 or 7:30.

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Ready to get it underway !

0-0 thru one. We left one on base and Aiden Dority got out of the inning on 8 pitches.

0-0 thru 2. Pitchers duel so far.

Will Motley just drove a pitch over the right center fence after a single down the line by Mason Quesenberry. 2-0 Carroll.

Alex Hawks with a line drive down the 1st base line for a triple. Now at third with one out.

Looking to pad the lead !

Halifax answers back with 2 of their own and ties the game at 2.

Jace Dolinger walked to start the 5th. Grant Reed walked and Ty Hart hit a hard line drive off the SS glove to score Jace. 3-2 Carroll after 4.5.

Aiden Dority leaves the game with 1 out in the 5th after pitching a spectacular game with 64 pitches. Mason Quesenberry on the bump now.

Controversial call in the 5th allows Appomattox to score one run. Knotted at 3 after 5.

Mason Quesenberry scores on a passed ball to make it 4-3 Carroll. 3 men stranded to end the inning. 1.5 to go.

Headed to the bottom of 6th…

The original schedule had a third game of the day scheduled after our game but being its already 10pm I’m not sure how that will play out.

Phantom ball call scores one for Appomattox. Game postponed for about 15 minutes to sort it out. Tied game 4-4 heading into the 7th.

Travis added that the two teams waiting to play the final game of opening day are both there ready to go – best case senerio would be a start time of 11pm ????

Game 1 just ended with a Halifax County walk off 3 Run Home Run.

Carroll County gave it everything they had but roughly 12 hours after departing their homes 🏡, they fall 7-4.

Good News is that its a double elimination tournament so the team will take another run at it tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks to all that followed 🙏 along today and we will do it again tomorrow !