Month: April 2018

Results for Mon. Apr. 30

BASEBALL

Cave Spring 15 Pulaski Co. 0 – 5 inns.

Christiansburg 7 Radford 1

Blacksburg 8 Hidden Valley 6

Bland Co. 11 Eastern Montgomery 4

Geo. Wythe 7 Floyd Co. 3 – 10 inns.

Auburn 17 Covington 2

Chilhowie 13 Northwood 8

Grayson Co. 15 Marion 3

Holston 14 J I Burton 5

Honaker 16 Richlands 1

Tenn. High 8 Va. High 1

SOFTBALL

Carroll Co. 11 Pulaski Co. 1 – 5 inns.

Cougar comeback not enough for the win

Christiansburg— The game was supposed to be played at Pulaski Co. The Cougar Field was unplayable, so the game was moved to Christiansburg. Whoever said it doesn’t matter how you start should have seen the first inning for the Blue Demons. Christiansburg scored four times on five hits and then held off the Cougars’ late rally for a 4-3 River Ridge district win.

The Blue Demons sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first. They had five hits, stole two bases and had one walk. They also got three wild pitches, and four of their hits in the inning didn’t get out of the infield grass. In fact, three of the hits ended up on the infield grass.

After that bizarre first inning, Cougar starting pitcher Chris Remington settled down and scattered just two Blue Demon hits over the next four innings.

The Cougars had a hard time against Christiansburg pitcher, Brady Kirtner. Kirtner struck out 11 batters and gave up only three hits as he went six innings. The Cougars finally got to him in the bottom sixth. Caleb Kirtner led the inning off drawing a walk. Logan Burchett also walked as did Jon Osteen to load the bases. Trent Blankenship would then lace a single to center to score Kirtner. Chris Remington would hit a sacrifice fly to center field to cut the Blue Demons lead in half, 4-2. The next two batters would strike and ground out to end the inning.

Pulaski Co. (6-5,1-3) would then come up in the seventh with a new Christiansburg hurler, Zach Taft on the mound. Braeden Blevins would walk, move to second on a pass ball and go to third on a wild pitch after one out. Punky Foster would hit a liner to left field for a hit, scoring Blevins. It was now 4-3 with only one out. Kellen Dalton was sent in to run and proceeded to steal second. Logan Burchett would then draw a base on balls. Drew Mabry would pinch run for him. Dalton and Mabry would then pull off a double steal and the Cougars were in business. There were runners at second and third and still only one out in the seventh.

The Blue Demons would change pitchers and bring Zach Durham to the mound. With the top of the line-up coming to the plate, the Cougars needed just a single in the right place and they would go-ahead for the first time in the game. Durham would strike out both Osteen and Blankenship looking to end the game and Christiansburg had the win. Six of the 13 Cougar strike-outs were called looking.

The Demons leadoff man, Will Stout, went three for four and scored a run. Reagan Harris, Zalen Akers and Ryan McFee scored a one run apiece and had one hit each.

Pulaski Co. was on the wrong end of a couple of calls that went against them. One was what looked like a foul ball off a Christiansburg batter’s foot and was called a base hit that didn’t travel 10 feet. That play led to the first run of the game. Then in the fifth inning, the Christiansburg pitcher raced to a Cougar batted ball, about halfway between home and third base. It looked and sounded as though the pitcher touched the ball and knocked it into foul territory. The play was called foul ball and a couple of pitches later with a runner on first, was called out looking at a third strike.

“It was a heck of a high school baseball game,” said Cougar head coach Jared King. “Their starting pitcher really kept our batters off balance for six innings. We battled and we had our chances to tie or go ahead. It’s hard to overcome 13 strike-outs that our batters had. I thought Remington (Chris) pitched well after that first inning. They had, what, four hits in the first that wouldn’t have add up to 90 feet or so.”

 

 

Christiansburg – 4 R – 8 H – 0 E – 8 LOB – WP- Kirtner

 

Pulaski Co. – 3 R – 3 H – 2 E – 5 LOB – LP – Remington (0-1)

Scores for Fri. Apr. 27

BASEBALL

Christiansburg 4 Pulaski Co. 3

Alleghany 16 Radford 1

Fort Chiswell 7 Bland Co. 1

Tazewell 7 Princeton 0 ( Tazewell P- Sid Willis 17 K’s – 2 hitter)

Grayson Co. 10 Rural Retreat 0

Glenvar 8 Carroll Co. 2

Auburn 5 Geo. Wythe 0

Floyd Co. 5 Giles 4

Salem vs Patrick Henry – PPD.

Cougars win one, lose one

Hillsville…Playing a doubleheader due to all inclement weather, the Cougars were slated to start the twin bill at Hillsville against Carroll Co at 4:30. Unfortunately one of the umps didn’t show up until 5:05 for the two games. The first game finally got started at around 5:10 and, yes, it started to sprinkle rain.

Carroll Co. won the first contest 7-2 behind the pitching of Kyle Robinson. He threw all five innings striking out four. He had a shut out until Caleb Kirtner hit a two-run homer with one out in the fifth. He allowed just four hits.

Kirtner not only homered but he also had a single. The only other Cougar with a hit was Trent Blankenship as he was two for three. He had singles in the first and third innings.

Going to the bottom of the third and no score, the Cavaliers got to Cougar starting pitcher Brandon Neel. They sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven times. The Cougars committed two big errors, allowed three hits, a walk and two hit batters in the Carroll Co. uprising. Six different Cavaliers had an RBI and seven different players scored a run. Designated hitter Hunter Nestor was one for one, with a run scored and a RBI.

The second game was played in a steady light rain from start to finish. The Cougars came back from being down 3-0 going into bottom of the third before they broke loose. The Cougars scored seven runs on five hits, sending 12 batters to the plate. Jon Osteen had a big two run single to help back Kellen Dalton on the mound. Dalton surrendered three runs but only one was earned as he scattered five hits. Bailey Ayers, Jonathan Minnick, Braeden Blevins, Hunter Shrewsbury and Caleb Kirtner all knocked in a run in the big third inning. Seven Cougars scored a run as Dalton improved to 4-0 on the mound and the Cougars improved to 6-4 on the season.

“We made some mistakes in the third inning of the first game that beat us,“ said Cougar head coach Jared King. “When you play just five innings your mistakes are magnified and Carroll Co. made us pay for them.“ Coach King then remarked about the second game, ”Kellen Dalton keeps giving us a chance to win a game. This was a big win for us after losing the opening game of this doubleheader.” He then added, ”I like how we battled back in this second game. We were down 3-0 in the third after losing the first game. We competed and battled in this second game. I’m proud of the way we responded.” Coach King then said, ”I give a lot of credit to the Carroll Co. staff here this evening. These weren’t ideal conditions, but they kept working on the infield and we got both games in.”

Pulaski Co. is scheduled to take on Cave Spring Monday, and Salem Wednesday, both games at home. Those are the top two teams in the River Ridge District. Both games are slated for 5:00 pm.

 

First Game

Carroll Co. 7 R – 3 H – 0 E – 3 LOB

Pulaski Co. 2 R – 4H – 3 E – 4 LOB

 

Carroll Co. – WP- Robinson

Pulaski Co. – LP – Neel (1-2)

 

Second Game

Pulaski Co. 7 R – 7 H – 2 E – 4 LOB

Carroll Co. 3 R – 5 H – 2E – 4 LOB

 

Pulaski Co. – WP – Dalton (4-0)

Carroll Co. – LP – Rodrigue

Results for Thurs. Apr. 26

BASEBALL

Carroll Co. 7 Pulaski Co. 2 – 1st Game

Pulaski Co. 7 Carroll Co. 3 – 2nd Game

Galax 5 Auburn 1

Roanoke Valley Christian 7 Eastern Montgomery 4

Blacksburg 7 Greenbrier East (WV) 1

Tazewell @ Richlands – PPD.

Va. High vs Lebanon -PPD.

Results for Apr. 24

BASEBALL

Tazewell 5 Marion 3

Pulaski Co. vs Salem – PPD.

Glenvar vs Radford – PPD.

Fort Chiswell vs Chilhowie – PPD.

Eastern Montgomery vs Bath Co. -PPD.

Geo. Wythe vs Galax – PPD.

Floyd Co. vs Alleghany – PPD.

Christiansburg vs Blacksburg – PPD.

Cave Spring vs Hidden Valley – PPD.

Lebanon vs Graham -PPD.

Cougars lose to Tigers in championship

The Coppinger Tournament Championship came to an end Saturday as the Honaker Tigers beat the Pulaski Co. Cougars 8-2. Honaker got great pitching from their southpaw starter Chris Marshall. Marshall tossed six innings giving up just two hits and striking out seven. Marshall, Chase Miller, and Levi Miller all had two RBIs. Chase Miller and Hartley Hilton each had two hits for the Tigers.

Pulaski Co. had Honaker and Marshall on the ropes in the first inning. The Cougars could just push just one run across, even though the Tigers committed three errors and Marshall walked two, threw a wild pitch. They left the bases loaded and Marshall then got tough the rest of the way.

The Cougars (5-3) only hits came from Bailey Ayers in the first and Jon Osteen in the fifth. Only four Cougar batters reached base after that first inning. Trent Blankenship and Drew Mabry scored the two Cougar runs. ” Honaker made some great plays defensively and they kept the pressure on us offensively,” said Cougar head coach Jared King. ” They will be tough to beat in their district and in region play, I would think. My off is off to them.”

The Cougars found themselves tied at one after one and then their starting pitcher Hunter Shrewsbury threw a pitch and hurt his throwing arm and had to come out of the game. Jon Osteen came in and gave up a hit to Shawn Tiller. Bryson Kendrick then hit into a force play at third but with two outs Chase Miller hit a two-run single to right center for the Tigers and they never relinquished the lead.

Pulaski Co Cougar players; Trent Blankenship, Bailey Ayers and Jon Osteen made the all-tournament team.

Pulaski Co. will take on undefeated Salem Tuesday at Salem, weather permitting. First pitch at Kiwanis Field will be at 5:00 pm.

Honaker – 8 R – 8 H – 4 E – 10 LOB

Pulaski Co. – 2 R – 2H – 1E – 5 LOB

Honaker – WP – Marshall

Pulaski Co. – LP- Osteen ( 0-1)