BASEBALL
Pulaski Co. 15 Carroll Co. 8
Fort Chiswell 3 Geo. Wythe 0
Radford 9 Giles 4
Galax 8 Chilhowie 6
Glenvar 4 Floyd Co. 1
Holston 7 Rural Retreat 6
Grayson Co. 10 Tazewell 3
Abingdon 11 Blacksburg 7
SOFTBALL
Pulaski Co. 4 Christiansburg 2
Rural Retreat 6 Galax 1
Bastian…Playing on a sunny afternoon, the Fort Chiswell Pioneers got a good pitching performance from Dallas Beasley, and Chance Davis drove in four runs to help them defeat the Bland Co. Bears 7-1.
Beasley threw a two-hitter and struck out one as Davis went 3 for 3 with a sacrifice fly along with four RBIs. Beasley also was 3 for 4 at the plate scoring a run and driving in a run. Centerfielder Tanner Bailey scored three runs as he walked twice and had a single. In addition Konner Rotenizer, Leighton Dunford and Cody Burkes all had a hit each.
Dylan Jackson getting two hits in three at bats led Bland Co. Jake Watters scored their lone run in the bottom of the sixth off Pioneer relief pitcher Davis. His run was unearned as Fort Chiswell committed a couple errors in the sixth. Cameron Jackson, Austin Chewing and Devin King all had one hit apiece in the loss. King pitched 5.1 innings for the Bears as he surrendered 10 and all 7 of the Pioneer runs. He struck out six and walked three.
“We made a couple errors that I didn’t like but we played fairly well beside those,” said Pioneer head coach Derrick Jackson. “Davis hit the ball extremely well today and Beasley pitched well for us.”
Fort Chiswell scored a single run in the first, third and fifth innings to got up 3-0. They then scored four times in the top of the sixth to blow the game open. The sixth inning started as Rotenizer singled. After a fly out, Dunford would then double and Burks would knock in two with his single. Beasley and Davis then both would single in a run each for the Pioneer uprising.
The Pioneers (15-1) will be back in action this week as they play Geo. Wythe on the road and then Bland Co. and Grayson Co. at home in the last week of the regular season.
R H E LOB
Fort Chiswell 7 10 3 6
Bland Co. 1 6 1 4
Fort Chiswell – WP – Beasley (8-1)
Bland Co. – LP – King
BASEBALL
Fort Chiswell 7 Bland Co. 1 – ( Fort Chiswell now 15-1)
Patrick Henry – Glade Spring 7 Honaker 4 – ( PH now 18-1)
Wm. Byrd 2 Hidden Valley 1
BASEBALL
Fort Chiswell at Bland Co.- PPD. – 3 pm -Sat.
Radford at Giles – PPD.- 4:30 pm- Mon.
Patrick Henry – Glade Spring vs Honaker – PPD. – 6 pm- Sat.
Christiansburg vs Hidden Valley – PPD.
Chilhowie vs Galax – PPD.- 5 pm.- Mon.
Blacksburg vs Patrick Henry – PPD.
Eastern Montgomery vs Covington – DH- PPD.
Salem vs Carroll Co. – PPD.
SOFTBALL
Pulaski Co. vs Cave Spring – PPD.
Carroll co. vs Salem – PPD.
Chilhowie vs Galax – PPD.
Roanoke…Can you say heart stopper? Weather delay? Questionable calls? The Pulaski Co. Cougar baseball team faced all that as they lost at Cave Spring by a score of 4-3.
Down 4-0 after six innings the comeback Cougars did just that. Hunter Shrewsbury hit a grounder to short that was bobbled as he reached base. Camden Underwood then stroked a double in the gap to left center off the fence. Tyler Waddell then hit a sharp single to center that scored both Shrewsbury and Underwood. That hit knocked the Knights starting pitcher Logan Altizer off the mound and brought in Daniel Cook. Then it starts to rain and lightning was seen off in the distance that sent both teams to their dugouts by the umps. After a 30 minute delay and it still raining, the game would restart. Jordan Lytton hit a single to center putting Waddell to second and still no one out. Trent Blankenship would then pop out to the first baseman as he was trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Braeden Blevins then hit a grounder to the second baseman who flipped the ball to the shortstop covering second for the second out, but Blevins beat the throw to first. Jon Osteen stepped up to the plate and drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. Andrew Lowe, the Cougars’ leading RBI man for the season, came to the plate and took ball one. He then hit the second pitch over the outreach of the Knights second baseman in short right field scoring Waddell. Blevins slid across home plate, but the ump called him out. This was the most questionable call of the game. It looked as if he had slid the lower part of his body over the plate and the catcher either tagged him up high or not at all for the final out of the game. Questionable call number three!!
In the top of the third inning, Blevins hit a rope over the first base bag that looked, at worst, hit or brought up chalk, but the ball was called foul that cost a the Cougars a run and a double for him. Questionable call number one.
The Knights (14-3) had taken an early 2-0 lead in bottom of the second as Trey Hodson singled and catcher Caleb Pritchard hit a two-run home run over the left field fence that landed in the school bus parking lot. The score would stay that way until bottom of the fifth when Nelson Stanley walked and pitcher Altizer hit a two-run homer over the left centerfield fence for a 4-0 lead. Altizer, 3 for 3 at the plate, scored a run and knocked in two with his homer. He pitched six innings, getting the victory as he gave up four runs and seven hits. He walked three and struck out four Cougar batters. Cook went one inning walked one, allowed three hits and surrendered a run.
This was the Cougars 18th game of the season. All season long, Coach King has had two of his players to chart pitches using a radar gun. In the fourth inning of their 18th game, the field umpire told Coach King he would have to keep his players in the dugout. When Coach King approached the ump for an explanation, he abruptly told him, “End of discussion.” Questionable call number two.
“We faced a lot of adversity here today,” said Cougar head coach Jared King. “I’m very proud of how my guys handled all of it. We battled and competed all game. We had a great chance at the end of the game and that’s all you can ask of your team. We had to start this game early because of weather, then we had a 30 minute delay for lightning and we still battled and competed.”
This game was a heart stopper and it was a heck of a comeback that fell a couple calls short. It was also the first time, that anyone can remember, a public announcer has every said over the PA to respect the umpires. The Cougars were very respectful during and after a game that was questionably taken away from them, or one that could have been tied.
Coach King remarked, ”It was a heck of a play they made to end the game and it was a very emotional game. The Knights starter kept us off balance for the first six inns. It was tough one to lose.”
Pulaski Co. (10-7-1) was led by Waddell who was 2 for 3 and had two RBIs and scored once. Trent Blankenship was 2 for 3, and Lowe went 2 for 3 and knocked in one . Danner took the tough loss from the mound and Thomas Anderson pitched the last two innings giving up no hits and struck out two.
The Cougars will be back in action Monday as they travel to Hillsville to take on the Carroll Co. Cavaliers. First pitch is slated for 5:00 pm.
R H E LOB
Cave Spring 4 7 1 6
Pulaski Co. 3 8 0 6
Cave Spring – WP- Altizer
Pulaski Co. – LP – Danner – (2-3)
BASEBALL
Cave Spring 4 Pulaski Co. 3
Fort Chiswell vs Bland Co. – PPD.
Galax 6 Rural Retreat 5
Marion 7 Chilhowie 5
SOFTBALL
Chilhowie 18 Marion 1
Galax 5 Rural Retreat 0
Grayson Co. 4 Grundy 2
Holston 3 Abingdon 0
Team Record Points Points Rating
Riner…The Auburn Eagles behind the clutch pitching of Keith Reed and a huge eight run outburst in the second inning defeated the Radford Bobcats 11-1 in five innings.
Auburn (14-1) sent 14 batters to the plate and scored all eight of their runs after two outs. Catcher Kyle Altizer was 2 of 3 knocking in three runs and scoring two. He also either picked off or threw out three Radford runners. Hunter Perkins also knocked in three and scored one on his two hits. Dylan Akers and Devin Durham produced two hits apiece. Akers scored twice and Durham knocked in two.
Radford (10-6-1) scored their lone run in the top of the second to take a brief 1-0 lead. Ty Hamblin singled after one out and Justice Marshall would single him in after a passed ball and a throwing error. Reese Williamson, who started on the mound for Radford, went three for three, but he was also tagged with the loss. In addition to Hamblin and Marshall’s hits, three other Bobcats had one hit each, Eric Burdette, Trace Shepherd and Conner Phillips. Chance Morris pitched 3.1 innings of relief and allowed just two hits, but it was too little too late.
“They’re a very good ball club,” said Radford head coach Greg Ridpath.“ They smacked the ball tonight, that’s for sure. Their catcher (Kyle Altizer) is an excellent catcher and he has a very good arm. We made some mental and base running mistakes today, but Auburn is what 14-1 or 15 -1 for the reason and we found that out today.” Coach then added, “I thought Chance (Morris) pitched well for us, but we were kept off balance by Reed (Keith), their pitcher. We have to get better.”
Reed scattered eight Bobcat hits, and his catcher Altizer erased three of those.
Radford is scheduled to travel to Pearisburg to take on Giles Friday at 4:30.
R H E LOB
Auburn 11 11 1 4
Radford 1 8 2 6
Auburn – WP – Reed
Radford – LP – Williamson (3-1)
BASEBALL
Fort Chiswell 20 Narrows 2 – 5 inns -( Fort Chiswell 14-1)
Auburn 11 Radford 1 – 5 inns.- ( Auburn 14-1)
Christiansburg 6 Carroll Co. 0
Glenvar 4 Giles 3
Chilhowie 1 George Wythe 0
Blacksburg 3 Patrick Co. 2
Va. High 4 Tazewell 0
PH – Glade Spring 22 Twin Valley 0 – ( PH 17-1)
Holston 1 Marion 0 – 1st game
Marion 12 Holston 11 – 2 nd game
Gate City 9 Lebanon 8
SOFTBALL
Blacksburg 12 Pulaski Co. 1 – 5 inns.
Lebanon 6 Gate City 3
(Photography courtesy Tina Quesenberry)
