Having spent the better part of the past four years watching 👀 Cody Reece develope into the young man that he is today, last night 🌙 was a terrific example of who he is.

Reece came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, 0 for 3 on the night. The Senior proceeded to leg out an infield single. He was standing on second base after fellow Cavalier Ben Phillips delivered a RBI single to make the score 9-2.

What followed next was a wild pitch that allowed Gage Nicholson to score from third base and impressively Reece followed him, scoring from second base on the play. Some nights you get to hit the ball over the fence and others you have to make something out of very little.

Dalton Busick followed with the Run Rule version of a walkoff base hit to close out the 12-2 victory.

Head Coach Casey Burcham played 10 and everyone of those Cavaliers either scored a run or collected a RBI. Nicholson reached base in all four plate appearances with two singles, one walk and one hit by pitch.

Peyton Spencer went Yard with a two run shot during his 2 for 3 evening.

The Junior Varsity team scored 11 more runs and remains undefeated.u

12 runs 🏃‍♂️ scored on 13 hits in just four ➕ innings. For this I will borrow from Nike when a young Spike Lee was telling Michael Jordan, Mikee, its gotta be the shoes, its gotta be the shoes.

Casey, it’s gotta be the building Casey, it’s gotta be the building !

The Castle 🏰 on The Hill !

The actual game story is on our site and should be available on The Carroll News site later today.

This was just a column that is designed for a fun take on the success.

We will close it out with a piece of Art from Eli Worrell’s kinfolk. Eli went 1 for 1 with a stolen base and a run scored.

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.