Freshman Laynie-Jo Leonard raced home from third base with the game-winning run in Carroll County’s 3-2 victory over James River on Thursday night in Hillsville. The thrilling Three Rivers District victory gave the regular season title to the Lady Cavaliers in what many expected to be a rebuilding season for head coach Rick Nester.
“I am so very proud of the amount of fight this group has, especially when you consider just how young we are.” said Nester. “We were able to bounce back after James River tied it up and then scored the winning run without a ball leaving the infield.”
Leonard led off the bottom of the seventh inning by working the Knights’ Makenna Saville for a base on balls. Leonard fell behind in the count before fouling off a number of pitches until she took ball four.
Holly Miller laid down a near perfect sacrifice bunt that the speedster nearly beat out for a base hit. The call at first base was the second of two bang-bang calls that didn’t go the home team’s way but it did get Leonard into scoring position.
Emma Leath came to the plate and quickly grounded a ball back up the middle. The play would go in the score book as a 6-3 groundout, but it also advanced Leonard over to third base. Addie Greene would follow with a ground ball to almost the same spot but this time the throw to first base was rushed and uncatchable, allowing Leonard to score the game winner.
The game ending on an error, the only miscue on the night by either side, took very little away from a game where both teams relied on their strength from start to finish.
Leath entered the contest needing three strikeouts to tie the CCHS school record of 694 and four to break it. The four-year starter took care of that by the second inning and appeared to be as dominant as ever.
Carroll County scratched out a run in the bottom of the second by stringing together three singles. Madison Coleman picked up the RBI, driving in Emma Harman to give Leath a 1-0 lead.
Coleman was in the middle of the Lady Cavaliers’ second run in the bottom of the fifth inning as well. She led off with an infield single, advanced on a Leonard single and scored on a Miller RBI single to push the lead to 2-0.
Pitching and defense is the strength of Carroll County (16-3, 9-2) and Wagner University-signee Ripley Barry is the strength of James River. Leath was trying to close out the top of the sixth with three consecutive ground outs to Greene but the third one turned into an infield single after a diving attempt by the shortstop that didn’t yield a throw.
Barry came to the plate having been struck out in both of her two previous times but guessed correctly on the second pitch and homered over the left field fence to tie the game at 2-2.
Leath would finish up with 11 strikeouts and just four hits and two runs allowed in earning career victory #60. The defense played flawlessly behind her and only three balls made it to the outfield all night.
The leadoff walk by Leonard allowed the team to play small ball to secure the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the crowd home happy once again. The team stands at 7-2 at Cavalier Park with one game to play after going a sparkling 9-1 on the road.
CCHS looks to get back on the diamond Friday at 6:30 with a varsity only contest versus Radford.
The ceremony planned for 6:10 pm will be moved over to the CCHS Gymnasium if weather prevents the game being played. The game itself would be moved over to Monday if that is the case.
The Junior Varsity team closed out its season with a 15-6 victory over JRHS in a game shortened to five innings.
James R. 000 002 0 - 2 4 0
Carroll 010 010 1 - 3 9 0
Saville and Joynes (JR); Leath and Burress (CC). WP - Leath. LP - Saville. HR - Barry.
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