photoS by Brian Hoffman
The Craig County girls will head to Independence today to take on Grayson County in the first round of the Region 1C softball tournament. Craig qualified for the tourney with a third place finish in last week’s Pioneer District tournament.
The Rockets opened the Pioneer Tournament with a 10-3 loss to Eastern Montgomery in Elliston. The Rockets actually out-hit the host Mustangs, eight to seven, but Craig had seven fielding errors that accounted for eight unearned runs charged to pitchers Nevaeh Hypes and Annalese Zimmerman. Aleah Owens had three hits and drove in all three runs for the Rockets.
The loss put the Craig girls in the third place game at Narrows and the Rockets pulled out a 15-11 slugfest against the Green Wave. Craig came from behind twice, trailing 7-3 after two innings and 11-10 after five. The Rockets scored three in the sixth and two in the seventh to win the game.
Ashlyn Keen had a big game for the Rockets. Her three-run homer in the third inning game Craig life after the Rockets fell behind early. Ashlyn finished with three hits, four runs scored and four runs batted in.
Once again the Rockets outhit their opponent, this time 14-9. Annika Zimmerman had three hits and scored three runs, Annalese Zimmerm and Kallie Fisher had two hits each and Hypes crossed the plate four times.
Nevaeh started on the mound and pitched into the fifth, striking out six. Annalese Zimmerman came on in relief and picked up the win. After Craig took the lead in the top of the sixth Annalese shut out the Wave in the sixth and seventh. The two Craig pitchers allowed just one earned run as Craig committed nine errors, but this time the offense bailed them out.
“I’m confident that these girls have the talent to compete with anyone as long as they stay focused and play to their full potential,” said Craig coach Elaina Wolfe-Carper.
photoS by Brian Hoffman
