The script for Emma Leath to exit Cavalier Park could not have played out any better if Aaron Sorkin penned it himself. Leath was honored before the game, alongside fellow Senior Tennis player Jabin Talley and then she led Carroll County (17-3, 10-2) to the outright Three Rivers District Championship by defeating Radford 9-1 Tuesday night.

Leath recorded 11 strikeouts, pushing her career total up to 713 while scattering seven hits as she finished the game for the 20th straight time for the Cavaliers.

Head Coach Rick Nester started eight players that were either Freshman or Sophomores with three more out do to recent injuries. Short stop Addie Greene is rehabbing from an ankle sprain suffered last week and Nester plugged in another Freshman Kenzey McMillian into her spot in the starting lineup.

To call this team young is doing injustice to the word young. That brings us back to Leath and her fellow Senior, Katherine Lindamood. The fact that Leath pitched so effectively isn’t Breaking News as she has made a career of it but against the Bobcats she went full on Beast Mode at the plate.

Both teams went down in order for the first two plus innings but that changed when Brooke Webb led off the bottom of the third by getting hit by a pitch. Madison Coleman bunted her over to second ahead of a walk to Laynie-Jo Leonard. Holly Miller reached base on a fielders choice and promptly stole second base, bringing Leath to the plate with an opportunity to help her own cause.

Leath laced a 2 run single to plate both Coleman and Miller. Coleman reached on a walk to lead off the fifth inning and it was Leonard that laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt to put Coleman in scoring position. One out later the 5’1 Leath laced a RBI single to push the lead out to 3-0.

In the top of the sixth inning Leath found herself in a rare bases loaded jam with only one out. The next batter popped out to Emma Harman at second base, bringing Kyra Rollins to the plate as the go ahead run.

Rollins timed up a pitch and sent a rocket 🚀 to the deepest part of the ballpark. Miller combined a great jump on the ball and her blazing speed to make the catch just short of the fence. The loud out ended the threat and in the bottom of the inning CCHS broke the game open with a six run rally.

Carlie Beamer pinch hit during the rally and picked up a RBI with a ground out. Leath added a third single to push her RBI total up to five for the night. Harman capped the frame with a RBI single.

” I am so proud of this group of young ladies, they give us their best every night,” said Nester. ” In regards to what Emma Leath has meant to our program is close to undescribable. She has led us both on and off the diamond.”

Showing respect to assistant Coach Jeff Tobler by choosing him to be her catcher for the Ceremonial First Pitch started the evening. Then there was 11 more strikeouts and victory #61. Don’t forget the career high five RBI’S.

Leath will have an encore performance this Friday night when the Lady Cavs welcome Lord Botetourt to The Hill for the Regional tournament opener for both teams.

First pitch is set for 6pm.

Carroll County softball edged Pulaski County early in the season up at Dublin but wasn’t as fortunate Monday night at Cavalier Park as the Cougars picked up key hits in five straight innings to earn an 8-2 Non-District victory.

CCHS (15-3) started out the game strong as Holly Miller picked up the first of her three base hits and eventually scored the games first run when Katherine Lindamood was issued a bases loaded walk. The Lady Cavaliers did plate one run in the rally but left the bases loaded as Laken Greever struck out the side.

Carroll County doubled up their lead in the bottom of the second inning when Miller reached on a single with two outs. The sophomore promptly stole second base and came around to score on a RBI single from Emma Leath.

Following the Leath single, Greever would settle down and limit the Lady Cavaliers to just three hits over the final five innings. The streak of consecutive batters retired reached 14 and was matched by the 14 strike outs.

Leath stranded three base runners over the first two innings but the Cougars played small ball to scratch out their first run in the top of the third inning. Sara Ritter singled for the first of her three base hits and was bunted to second before stealing third base. Greever helped her own cause with a RBI single to make the score 2-1.

Morgan Vest followed with a double to give the visitors two runners in scoring position before Leath stopped the potential big inning with a strike out and a foul out.

Vest and Ritter each finished the contest with three base hits for the Cougars while seven different players scored the eight runs and six different players collected the RBI’S.

The top four in the Lady Cavalier line-up finished 7 of 15, led by Miller with three hits and Leath with two singles but Greever held the rest of the order to 0-14 on the night.

Leath finished the night with seven strikeouts and now sits just three shy of tying the School record of 694 held by Sydney Nester. Four more in her next game will create a new mark of 695.

Despite the setback, Carroll County still controls its own destiny in regards to the Three Rivers District regular season championship. CCHS sits at 8-2 with home games with Radford (2-9) and James River (2-9) remaining while Patrick County is 8-3 with one game to play versus Floyd County (5-6).

Alleghany has dropped three straight and finished in a tie for third with Glenvar at 7-5.

Carroll County holds the tiebreaker with Patrick County after sweeping the season series which allows the Lady Cavaliers to host the District Championship game with one more victory.

Mother Nature might play a role in when the games are going to be played. The schedule as of now is to host Radford on Tuesday and James River on Thursday, weather permitting.

Carroll County Softball has planned a pre-game ceremony before the Radford contest to honor the four Seniors who are set to graduate 🎓 holding school records. Leath, pitching victories, Jabin Talley with Tennis victories, Ashlyn Newman with Soccer career goals and Alyssa Ervin with Basketball career points at 2,111.

Carroll County hosted Alleghany in their biannual double header Tuesday night and after 3:23 of total time and 12 tension filled innings, the Lady Cavaliers and Lady Cougars ended the night having secured one victory each.

Alleghany was down to their final out in the five inning opener when Bryce Leitch singled in the tying run in to knot the opener at 1-1. The visitors went on to plate the two deciding runs in the top of the seventh inning to secure the 3-1 victory.

Carroll County switched to being the visitors in the night cap and captured the equalizer by a final score of 6-4.

The large crowd was on the edge of their seats pretty much from start to finish as both clubs brought everything they had from start to finish.

In the opening game, Emma Leath and Addyson Neff were locked into quite the pitchers duel from start to finish. The effort from Neff was a bit more hidden as eight Lady Cavaliers reached base but only one did so by way of a base hit. Natalie Burress led off the second inning with a sharp single but was stranded at third base, one of numerous opportunities to plate runs that were missing the key base hit.

CCHS was able to plate a run in the bottom of the third inning after Addie Greene reached base on an error ahead of Leath drawing her second walk of the game.

Katherine Lindamood loaded the bases when she reached on the second error of the inning, giving the Cavs a bases loaded with no out situation. Emma Harman brought in Greene by reaching on a fielder’s choice to make it 1-0 but Neff worked her way out of the jam without further trouble.

Leath would protect the slim lead and started out the fifth and final inning with the eighth of nine strike outs before surrendering a single to Kinsey Middleton. One out later, Leitch tied the game at 1-1, sending the contest to extra innings.

Carroll County put two runners in scoring position in the six but both were left stranded and Alleghany would plate two unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning to take game one.

Both Neff and Leath went the distance and each recorded nine strike outs in doing so. Leath allowed six hits and one earned run while Neff surrendered one hit and no earned runs.

Carroll County made up for lost time in Game 2 while facing Tyra Rose in the circle. Greene figured in all three runs the Cavs scored in the first innings. The Freshman walked in the first and scored on a Lindamood RBI single and then in the second inning her two RBI single plated both Brooke Webb and Holly Miller.

AHS struck back in the bottom of the third inning, plating two runs when Abbie Fridley stroked a single to plate Leitch (infield single) and Kaylee Nicely (HBP).

The score remained 3-2 until an explosive fifth inning when an additional five runs crossed home plate and four more were left on base.

CCHS doubled its run total in the top of the inning with the big hit belonging to Laiken Burnett. Harman led off with a single and stole her way to third base. Lindamood followed with a walk and stolen base, bringing Burress to the plate. The freshman struck out but made it to first base on a dropped ball and Harman scored on the play. Carlie Beamer ripped a line shot but right at the centerfielder and Burnett followed with a two run double down the third base line to push the lead out to 6-2.

Alleghany was not going to go quietly into the night. Eight Lady Cougars batted in the bottom of the fifth with five consecutive batters reaching on an odd collection of singles. With the lead down to 6-4 and the bases loaded, Leath retired the final batters on infield pop ups.

The Lady Cavaliers now sit at 12-1 on the season with seven games remaining. Six of the seven will be Three Rivers District play where the team currently sits at 5-1 and in control of its own destiny.

The team still faces three contests that need to be rescheduled and will begin that process this Thursday night by traveling over to Floyd County.

Leath finished the night with 15 strike outs, bringing her career total up to 645. The record number sits at 694 from Sydney Nester.

The Junior Varsity fell in their double header at Alleghany but Bayliegh Allen connected for a Home Run in both games.

Holly Miller standing on second base in the fifth inning…

Photo 📷 credit – Kelly Hawks

The dust had barely settled on the Thursday night 2-1 thrilling victory at Radford when Head Coach Rick Nester filled out his lineup card for the Galax tilt back on The Hill.

The veteran coach penned in Emma Leath to bat second and head out to the pitching circle and his Senior didn’t disappoint. Ten strikeouts and no hits later, Carroll County toppled Galax 3-0 to move to 11-0 on the season.

The performance followed a pregame ceremony in which Leath caught a ceremonial First Pitch from her Father, Travis Leath.

The double digit strike out performance leaves the right hander at 630 in her persuit of the School record of 694.

Carroll County collected 9 hits against a pair of Galax pitchers but never picked up the clutch hit that would have broken the game out of reach. Emma Harman , Brooke Webb and Madison Coleman each finished with two base hits to lead the offense and Holly Miller made the one remarkable play behind Leath to protect the no-no.

Innings one through five were nothing short of a pitching clinic from Leath as Galax sent 15 batters to the plate and all 15 headed back to the dugout. Nine were by strikeout and six retired by the infield but things changed in the top of the sixth.

Hylee Holt led off the inning with a line drive that was dropped for the lone error for the Cavaliers. One strikeout later Jayden Leonard sent a shot through the right side of the infield for what appeared to be the first base hit of the game but Miller charged the ball and fired it to second base for the put out. Leonard officially reached base on a fielders choice and Leath retired the final four batters with help coming from Brooke Webb in left field for the final out of the contest.

Carroll County scratched out single runs in the second, fourth and six innings with Harman crossing the plate the first two times and Natalie Burress adding the final run.

Harman led off the second inning with a single, promptly stole second base and took third on a wild pitch. Burress picked up the RBI by laying down a sacrifice bunt.

Harman singled again in the fourth inning and came around to score curtosey of a Madison Coleman RBI single.

Burress added some insurance by singling with one out and scoring on the second hit on the night by Webb.

The victory marks the start of the second half of the 20 game regular season. The Lady Cavaliers made the turn at a perfect 10-0 and now stand at 11-0 ahead of a scheduled double header against visiting Alleghany on Tuesday. The two teams split the double header last season at AHS.

The final few weeks of the season promise to be busy ones as the team remains three games down with one at Floyd County, one home to James River and one home to Pulaski County.

The recorded no-hitter was the second for Leath as Cavalier with both efforts coming against the Maroon Tide.