Floyd – Carroll County High School Softball and Floyd County were locked into a pitchers duel into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Buffaloes broke it open late for a 9-2 victory Tuesday night.

Emma Harman held the home team in check through four plus innings. The score remained 1-0 until a series of base hits had veteran Coach Rick Nester dusting off quotes from the Baseball classic book of thoughts.

” I was telling the team afterwards that the game can be funny that way,” said Nester ” We were hitting the ball on the nose but right at their fielders and they were hitting seeing eye flairs that fell in between.”

Playing on a chili night 🌙 and for the second consecutive night, Nester knew that his team was in for a challenge against the 🐃. Holly Miller, Faith Clontz and Brooke Webb are all recovering from injuries but there’s still plenty of talent left on the field, just not on the bench in ways of substitution.

Floyd County broke the game open with a five run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nester did everything he could to slow down the momentum, including having Addie Greene take over inside the Circle, swapping places with Harman.

Floyd County added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to push its lead out to 9-0 but the Cavaliers did answer back in their final at bat.

Natalie Burress and Greene started the rally with base hits with Bayleigh Allen following with a RBI single. The efforts didn’t stop after the two runs as Carroll County loaded the bases and Harman stepped to the plate.

” The ball Emma hit there at the end was a line shot right back up the middle,” noted Nester. ” But their pitcher got her glove on it, knocked it down and they made the final out. If that one gets through, we have ourselves a ball game.”

While Nester is never happy in defeat, he was pleased with the effort that his team showed versus the Buffaloes.

” We played well defensively across the lineup and pitched well,” said Nester. ” The girls took good swings and battled against a very good pitcher. We will see how we do on Thursday night.”

Carroll County (4-5) will get one day off before heading over to Stuart on Thursday night to face Patrick County High School in a JV & Varsity doubleheader.

  The final score reads 11-3 in favor of Floyd County but the story lies in the heart ❤ of the JV team.

Alexis Dalton, Terry Warf and when available, Lucas Dalton coach a very young Junior Varsity team inside of the Program of Head Varsity Coach Rick Nester.

Tuesday night 🌙 was less than ideal weather for Softball, with the combination of low temperatures 🌡and a great deal of wind blowing at Cavalier Park.

Floyd County added three runs in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead out to 11-0 and the game hit the two hour mark when the Lady 👩 Cavaliers came to bat in the bottom of the final inning.

At a point where it would have been so very easy to just go through the motions and get out of the cold 🥶, here’s what took place.

Ailey Cochran led off and worked the count for a base on balls. Kiley Lineberry sent a ground ball to the right side that advanced Cochran into scoring position. Leadoff hitter Molly Montgomery and Bree Campbell both followed, reaching base on walks. All three worked their way around the bases to eventually score to produce the 11-3 final.

Floyd County JV    212 210 3 – 11

Carroll County JV 000 000 3  – 3

Kiley’s Father 👨 was in the press box keeping the scoreboard going and it provided the two of us a terrific opportunity to discuss the game at this level and what the goal is on a given night 🌙. At this point its about learning the game, improving everyday and falling in love with the game itself.

When two thirds of your roster is in the eighth grade and one of your players that is older (Arizona Thompson) has been moved up to Varsity so that they could have one healthy substitute, there will be nights that are a struggle.

I am not making excuses for the Coaches, nor would they want me to do so. Just trying to acknowledge the challenges that they face each day. Yes, the team was overmatched last night but they played right up to the final strike and have three runs to show for their efforts.

Two hours and six minutes (4:58-7:04) is a long time to be on the Diamond 💎 on a cold night, so the takeaway is that our Lady Cavaliers played all 126 minutes, without letting up.

That is a great sign of Heart, Coaching and Parenting.

Carroll County JV will return to action 🎬 on Thursday night at Patrick County.

The Burcham Express was slow out of the station 🚉 Tuesday night but it quickly became full steam ahead as the Cavaliers run ruled Floyd County 12-2 in Three Rivers District play.

Ben Phillips drew the start for Carroll County and the top of the first inning wasn’t very kind to the home team as the Buffaloes plated two runs before the Cavaliers could regroup.

CCHS could not answer in their half of the first inning but that would be the only time that the Cavaliers didn’t dent the scoreboard. Colby Goad and Peyton Spencer each recorded one out singles in the bottom of the second and then took advantage of control issues to work their way around the base paths to tie the score at 2-2.

Carroll County followed the Crooked number with a much bigger one in the bottom of the third. The Cavaliers batted around, scoring five runs on six base hits.  Phillips helped his own cause by leading off with a single and Dalton Busick joined him on the base paths after being hit by a pitch.

Camden DeHaven laced a RBI single and Peyton Spencer drove a ball into the night for a 2-run homer to make it 5-2. Britt Berrier followed a Eli Worrell single with a RBI double and came around to score on a Gage Nicholson RBI single.

Phillips kept Floyd County off balance through four innings and then Head Coach Casey Burcham turned  Spencer loose on the visitors in the fifth.

Spencer struck out the side in his first inning of work, which would also become his last inning after Carroll County delivered the knock out punch 👊 in the bottom of the fifth.

” I liked the fact that we battled back from early mistakes to compete with a very good Floyd team,” said Burcham. “Every guy in the lineup had a hit or an RBI tonight.  I like the fact we are being selfless in 2 strike counts. These guys are making it about the team instead of themselves.”

Berrier reached on a fielders choice and Nicholson followed with a base on balls. Cody Reece legged out an infield single. After Berrier had scored both Nicholson and Reece scored on the same passed ball. Phillips added a second single and Busick sent the crowd home early with a mercy rule walk off RBI single.

The 12 runs scored were spread across the entire lineup card. This fact was not lost on the Skipper.

”  Every guy in the lineup had a hit or an RBI tonight.  I like the fact we are being selfless in 2 strike counts, ” added Burcham. “These guys are making it about the team instead of themselves.”

Floyd County.  200 00 – 2

Carroll County 025 14 – 12

One out when clinching run scored

The Nester Nine JV team opened the doubleheader by presenting their Head Coach a bonus Birthday gift in the form of a  run shortened victory over the younger Buffaloes, 11-1.

Reid Horton launched a 3-run home run during a five run first inning and the Cavaliers never looked back on their way to remaining undefeated on the season.

Both squads return to action 🎬 Thursday night when all 12 Carroll County High School teams are set to play on the same day.