Lady Cyclones’ late rally falls short
Published 9:42 am Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones shortstop Sadie Williams (25) fields a hard-hit ground ball in the hole and fires to first in time to get Ashe County’s Madalyn Eason (1) for the first out in the top of the second inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones first baseman Lilly McDuffie (14) stretches for a wide throw from shortstop Sadie Williams (25) but keeps her foot on the bag to retire Ashe County’s Madalyn Eason (1) for the first out in the top of the second inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones shortstop Sadie Williams (25) settles under an infield fly ball off the bat of Ashe County’s Rylee Williams (7) for the second out in the top of the second inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones’ Brook Sparks (9) gets under a pitch and flies out to right field for the first out in the bottom of the second inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones’ Piper Bennett (16) drives a single through the infield for Elizabethton’s first hit of the game in the bottom of the second inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones freshman starting pitcher Laci Gobble (2) fires a warm-up pitch before the start of the third inning.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent After leading off the bottom of the third inning with a single, Lady Cyclones' Adrian Heading (00) dives safely under the pickoff tag of Ashe County first baseman Hannah Osborne (1) on a throw from catcher Rylee Williams (7).
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent Lady Cyclones’ Adrian Heading (00) takes off on a steal attempt as Ashe County catcher Rylee Williams’ (7) throw sails high over shortstop Ally Greer’s (20) head and rolls toward center field. Heading pops up, rounds third, and races home, sliding in headfirst to score Elizabethton’s first run of the game.
Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent After reaching base on a dropped third strike, Lady Cyclones’ Sadie Williams (25) steals second and then advances to third, sliding in safely ahead of the tag by Ashe County third baseman Ava Roten (13) in the bottom of the third inning.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
A pitchers’ duel early became a slugfest late as the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones fell to Ashe County (N.C.) 9-7 on Saturday in softball action. Ashe County drew first blood with pitcher Maleah Lovell smashing a home run over the left-center field fence for a 1-0 Lady Huskies lead.
The Cyclones tied the score in the third frame when Adrian Heading reached on an infield error and scored when she stole second base and the Huskies catcher’s throw to second base sailed into center field, allowing Heading to race all the way around to score.
“We took advantage of some errors to score a few runs,” Lady Cyclones head coach Kenneth Hardin said. “They are a great team, and that’s why we put them on the schedule. We want to play everybody we can. I think we had a chance, but that’s how we get better.”
EHS (1-1) took a 2-1 lead in the last of the fourth after a two-base hit from Piper Bennett and an RBI single from Jozey Reece, but the Huskies tied it once again in the top of the fifth on an RBI infield single from Madeline Eason.
The Cyclones seemed to take control of this contest in the last of the fifth, scoring a pair of runs with Brook Sparks and Bennett driving home runs with a single and sacrifice fly to take a 4-2 lead.
However, things went bad for EHS in the top of the sixth as Ashe County struck for seven runs, with Ava Roten and Ally Greer each delivering three-run home runs after an RBI single from Rylee Williams to take a 9-4 lead.
“They beat us late,” Hardin said. “We had the tying and winning runs at the plate, but we never got to that point. We didn’t give them anything; we made them earn it.”
EHS got a run back with an RBI groundout from Lilly McDuffie to go into the last frame trailing 9-5. McDuffie put the Huskies down in order in the seventh, and the Cyclones began to put together a late rally with Sparks opening the stanza with a single.
Bennett then reached on the fourth error of the game by Ashe County, putting runners on second and third. A single from Reece, who finished 2-for-3, brought home one run, and a single from Maddie Woods in a pinch-hitting role made it 9-7.
Sadie Williams reached by being hit by a pitch for the second time in this one to load the bases with just one out. Lovell then struck out Gryder, who finished 2-for-4, and retired McDuffie on a slow roller to second base.
“Gobble got a little tired, and Lilly was the same way,” Hardin said of his pitchers’ late collapse. “I have so much faith in them, but they got the late hits when they got runners on base.”
Junior Varsity
EHS 9, Ashe County 8
The Junior Lady Cyclones got home runs from Maddie Woods and Ezzy Barr and overcame an 8-5 Ashe County lead in the last of the fourth to take the win. Piper Smith got the win when the Cyclones rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth, with Heading, Barr and Woods each driving in runs.
Varsity
Ashe County 9, EHS 7
Ashe Co. 010 017 0 – 9 9 4
EHS 001 121 2 – 7 9 0
W – Lovell
L – Gobble
HR – Greer, Roten
