Carroll County head softball coach Rick Nester entered Thursday night with his team at 9-0 and having held their last two opponents scoreless, but Thursday the team needed every strike available in scratching out a 2-1 Three Rivers District victory over Radford.
The Lady Bobcats plated one early run against senior Emma Leath and while Carroll County was getting good swings in almost every inning, they could not plate the game-tying run.
“Emma’s pitching and our defense kept us in the game tonight,” said Nester. “The number of times that they would get a runner in scoring position with no outs only to have her then strike out the side kept us within sight of them.”
Leath (10-0) would end the eight-inning contest with 18 strikeouts and only six other putouts for the entire game. The career high in K’s takes her career mark to 620.
As dominant as Leath was in the circle, the team headed to the top of the seventh inning trailing 1-0. After the first two Lady Cavaliers were retired, Nester sent Carlie Beamer up to the plate as a pinch hitter and she quickly had two strikes. CCHS was actually as close to their first defeat as possible when Beamer singled to left field to keep the team afloat.
Laiken Burnett went back into the game to run for Beamer. Madison Coleman reached on an infield single and the game-tying run scored when Radford committed an error on the ground ball that Holly Miller hit would have ended the contest.
Leath once again took care of business in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the affair into extra innings. The rule in the extra innings is that the player that recorded the final out in the previous inning starts out at second base. Addie Greene was standing in scoring position and Nester went to a small ball attack immediately.
Leath successfully bunted her over to third base and Katherine Lindamood brought her into score on a squeeze bunt. Having their first lead of the night at 2-1, the team still needed three outs and the Lady Bobcats would also start with a runner in scoring position and the heart of their order coming to the plate.
Leath would once again record three consecutive strikeouts to close out the night.
“I am really proud of how hard we battled tonight,” added Nester. “We haven’t played from behind very often this season and they kept at it right to the very end.”
Or in this case, as close as you can come to the very end.
Carroll County will have minimal time to savor their come from behind conquest as they return to action Friday night on The Hill. Galax comes to town for a 6 p.m. first pitch in a Varsity only evening.
CCHS defeated Radford 20-5 in the Junior Varsity contest held to open the evening.
Carroll 000 000 11 - 2 8 2
Radford 001 000 00 - 1 6 1
Leath and Burress (CC); Burton and Rollins (R). WP - Leath. LP - Burton. 2B - Burress, Greene (CC); Price (R).
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