Avery Softball and Baseball Travel to Madison

On Friday afternoon the Avery softball and baseball squads trekked to Marshall for conference contests against the Madison Patriots.

In the softball contest, the Lady Vikings hoped to bounce back from a 13-0 loss at Polk County. Unfortunately the Big Red ran into the freight train of Madison junior pitcher Laurel Gregg. The junior right-hander is among the state leaders in ERA and strikeouts, and has thrown five no-hitters and eight shutouts this season.

Gregg struck out 15 Avery batters en route to an 11-0 Madison victory. The hurler allowed only one base runner, as Samantha Shook reached on a passed ball from a dropped third strike. Tiffani Taffer led Madison (11-1, 5-1) at the plate by going 2 for 3 with a double and a triple. Kaitlyn Huff went 2 for 3 with a run.

In baseball action, Coach Benny Wellborn's Avery Vikings looked poised for a victory Friday as Avery grabbed an early 4-0 lead behind timely hitting the pitching of southpaw starter Chris Childress, and led 6-2 as late as the bottom of the third frame. Errors and mental mistakes reared their ugly heads in the third frame. Avery was also the victim of a questionable safe ruling on an apparent tag by pitcher Chris Childress of a Madison runner. The play allowed Madison to come back to take a 7-6 advantage after four innings.

As the clouds thickened and darkened overhead, the rain began to fell in earnest. Before the worst of the rain, the Patriots picked up a pair of insurance runs to lead 9-6 going into the top of the sixth inning.

Facing the prospect of a second loss for the week, the Vikings reached down deep to ignore the elements and battle back. Pedro Benavides drew a walk and stole second base, and Seth Phillips followed with a walk to put a pair of runners on. Junior catcher Zac Hall came to the plate and 'Man-Bear', as his teammates refer to him, came through in the clutch in the largest of fashions, walloping a mammoth three-run home run over the left field wall to tie the game.

The Vikings were retired to end the half inning, but faced a different dilemma. The team had to complete the Madison half of the sixth inning before play was halted by umpires due to rain or, according to the umps, the score would revert to the previous inning (where Madison led 9-6). Avery reliever Sutton Stanley retired the first two batters, allowed two Patriots to get on base, but battled back to induce a third out to close the frame.

Umpires called a stoppage of play and deemed the contest a suspended game, meaning the teams must resume the game at a later date with the same score and statistics as when the game was halted. As of Friday evening, the Vikings appear headed back to Madison on Monday afternoon to resume the 9-9 ballgame.

MONDAY UPDATE: The Vikings returned to Marshall on Monday afternoon to resume the game suspended by rain last Friday. Seth Phillips went to the mound in relief of Sutton Stanley for the contest. Neither team could score in the seventh inning as action resumed, forcing the game into 'extra innings'.

In the top of the eighth, the Vikings batted around and scored six runs to take a 15-9 lead, with Phillips closing the door in the bottom of the frame to give the Big Red a win to finish a game that took three days to complete.

"Everybody hit the ball. We just started hitting the ball, hitting line drives and put the ball into play over their head basically," Coach Benny Wellborn said after the win. "They hit a couple of hard balls, but we were able to hold them, which was the important thing."

The win was particularly sweet since the Vikings had to give up a day of practice for Tuesday's matchup with Mountain Heritage in order to travel to Marshall to complete Friday's game. "I tried to use the trip as motivation to prepare the team. None of us were thrilled over having to make another trip down there and lose a day of practice. We wanted to finish it early and we did so," the coach added.

Due to Monday's finish, Avery was forced to cancel Thursday's contest at McDowell because a team cannot play more than three opponents in a week. Avery already has the Heritage contest as well as a home game on Friday with North Wilkes.