Photo by Brian Hoffman
Appomattox pounded out 12 hits in a five-inning shutout of James River in the Region 2C quarterfinal softball tournament last Wednesday in Appomattox. The Raiders took a 13-0 win to end River’s season at 6-13.
Bailey Hamilton and Paisley Mann had three hits apiece for host Appomattox. Chloe Vaughan pitched the first four innings and allowed two hits, striking out seven, for the win while Mann threw the fifth inning, striking out the side.
Ripley Barry had a triple to the right field corner in the first inning for James River, and Cloey Joynes had a fourth inning single.
In about 24 hours’ time, James River went from finding out they were in the regional tournament to being eliminated from it. About eight o’clock on Tuesday night Carroll County beat Radford in a make-up game to eliminate the Bobcats, and put the Knights in. Then Tuesday the Knights were back out.
“There’s not much to say about the game with Appomattox,” said River coach Steve Austin. “They are an outstanding team that is playing great softball right now. They have done what they did to us to most of the teams on their schedule. They will be hard to beat.”
The bright spot for James River is that 12 members of the 2024 team are eligible to return next year, 11 girls for at least two more years.
“I feel that we were competitive in most every game we played this year, with the obvious exception being Appomattox,” said Austin. “Our program will start out next year in a much better spot than we started out this season.”
The Region 2C championship game is scheduled to be played at the Botetourt Sports Complex on Thursday at 6 p.m.
