It was a difficult proposition to play outdoor sports last week due to the recent snowstorm that blanked Avery County. Due to the weather, the Cranberry Middle School baseball team was unable to play any regularly scheduled contests.The team traveled to Cane River for a doubleheader on Monday and fell by scores of 14-4 after three innings of play and 18-0 after two innings. Cranberry will host the Avery Middle School Panthers in a county rivalry contest on Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats will finish up the week by hosting Bowman on Friday as a make-up from a game postponed last week.
The Cranberry Middle School girls softball team also managed to overcome the bad weather issues and play a contest against North Mitchell. The Lady Wildcats played with heart and intensity, but fell short in a 16-8 final which was called due to the two-hour time limit.
Cranberry was successful in scoring runs to keep pace with the North squad, but starting pitcher Holly Cook began to tire and faced control difficulties. A number of North Mitchell players drew walks, prompting head coach Angel Dugger to call on Arizona Clawson in relief to finish the game.
“We played much better this game than in our previous one, and I am sure that as a team we will continue to improve with every game from here on out,” Cranberry head coach Angel Dugger remarked. “All the girls played their hearts out and I am very proud of all of them.”
Avery Middle School baseball was able to take the field last week for its opening games of the 2009 season.
Avery traveled to take on Cane River on Thursday afternoon, falling by a 10-0 final score in four innings. Tyler Polsgrove started on the mound for the Panthers and battled through arm discomfort to pitch three innings. Polsgrove gave up only five runs in the outing, three of which came in the first inning while adjusting to the mound. It was the first start from middle school distance for the seventh grader.
Chance Watson came on in relief and threw the final inning in relief, and the Rebels scored five runs in the inning as the pitcher also worked to adjust to the distance and mound dimensions.
“The game was a lot closer than the score indicated,” Avery head coach Donnie Johnson said following the loss. “I was pretty happy with our play considering we had not been on a mound yet and for our pitchers it was the first time they had ever pitched from 60 feet in a game.”
On Friday the Panthers traveled to East Yancey for a doubleheader. The Panthers fell 4-1 in the first game of the twin bill, but the offense came to life in the second contest to score six runs. East Yancey, considered by many as a favorite to win the Toe River Conference championship, took advantage of a number of Avery errors and heated up with the bats to score 13 runs and take the 13-6 victory in the time-limit shortened second contest.
Watson started on the hill for Avery in the opening game, pitching a four-inning complete game. He surrendered only four runs for the game, but the Panthers were unable to provide any offensive help to overcome the East lead. Walker Carswell had an RBI base hit to provide for the only run in the first game of the doubleheader.
In the second game Watson took the ball to start the contest, throwing the first three innings, while Walker Carswell came on in relief to pitch the final inning. “Walker came on and pitched well for his first outing. It was his first game at that distance, as it has been a week of first for all our pitchers,” Johnson added.
The team continues to look to improve, as the club has only had the opportunity to practice outdoors approximately four times prior to its games last week.
“We don’t have a mound in Newland which has put us behind a little and made it hard for our pitchers, and the field has been in terrible shape due to the weather,” Coach Johnson elaborated. “Our hitting began coming around on Friday. We weren’t striking out and were putting the ball in play, which is all you can ask for from your players this early in the season. We worked on what we could and had a few balks in the game, but many of those things we have not been able to get to.”
East Yancey ran into control issues from the mound and Avery hitters took advantage at the plate, scoring five runs in the fourth inning of the second game. Chance Watson had a base hit and a pair of RBI in the frame.
Fielding errors hurt the Avery squad in the second contest, however, as fielding errors led to a number of unearned runs for East. “I’m happy with how we’ve improved. We have progressed a lot, and we’re still learning together,” Coach Johnson added.
