Photo by Leigh Downey
The James River softball team is looking to bounce back from a forgettable loss when they take on two tough Three Rivers District opponents this week. The Knights were scheduled to play at Floyd on Tuesday and at Alleghany on Friday, hoping to turn things around against two teams they lost to in their first meeting.
River will be trying to put a loss to Eastern Montgomery in the rear view mirror. The Knights dropped a 10-8 heartbreaker to the Mustangs in Elliston last week, letting an 8-0 lead slip away.
“After an amazing top of the first, somehow a switch got turned off and everything went haywire for us…in every phase,” said River coach Steve Austin.
The Knights started with a bang as leadoff hitter Caitlyn Downey began the contest with a solo home run to left field to put the Knights ahead, 1-0. Four singles, two doubles and a walk later, James River had an 8-0 lead after their first at-bat. The Mustangs were not ready to concede, however, and they used four singles and a throwing error to plate four runs of their own in their initial at-bat and after one inning the score was 8-4.
East Mont scored single runs in the second and fifth to slice the lead to 8-6. Meanwhile, the Knights were thwarted after the big first inning, but they did leave three runners in scoring position during that stretch.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mustangs struck for four two-out runs on two singles, a walk, a hit batter and two Knight miscues to grab a 10-8 lead. A three-up-three-down top of the seventh left the Knights with their second straight loss as River fell to 3-5 and the Pioneer District Mustangs improved to 7-3.
Downey led James River with three hits, a single, double and home run. Abbie Wilson, Chloe Joynes and Keira Crawford had two hits apiece for River while Ella Hutchens had a double and two RBIs in the disappointing loss.
“We’ve been ahead or tied in seven of our eight games going into the sixth inning,” said Austin. “We need to keep fighting and competing and figure out a way to finish– and learn to hate losing a little more.”
