It was déjà vu all over again for the James River softball team as the Knights saw their season come to an end with a 9-4 loss at Glenvar in the first round of the Region 2C tournament. It was the third loss to the Highlanders within a span of 11 days.
Following the script of the previous week at Glenvar, River was nursing a precarious lead, 2-0, in the middle of the game. With two outs and two on in the bottom of the fourth inning, an error led to the first Glenvar run, and that opened the floodgates. Glenvar’s Zella Hayes followed with a three-run homer, then a single and a double gave the Highlanders another run and when the dust settled Glenvar had five unearned runs and a 5-2 lead.
The Knights failed to score in the top of the sixth, and three walks and two hits in the bottom of the sixth led to four more Highlander runs. Trailing, 9-2, in the top of the seventh, James River got singles from Sierra Ware, Paige Shotwell, Caitlyn Downey and Cloey Joynes, producing two runs, accounting for the final score.
Joynes, the lone Knights senior, had a solo home run and another single, giving her three hits in her final high school game.
“Cloey Joynes had an outstanding last game for us,” said River coach Steve Austin. “That kid was a four-year starter for our program and was a part of some big moments in our softball history. We will miss her greatly, but she is on to the next chapter of her life at Bluefield, where I know she will make her mark.”
Ella Hutchens, Kaylee Harlow, and Andi Kreklow also recorded hits in River’s nine hit attack. Makenna Saville pitched five innings for the Knights and allowed five runs, all unearned. James River ended their season with a record of 12-9.
“My first thought is how proud I am of how our team competed all year long,” said Austin. “We had a small margin of error, partly because of inexperience in some key areas. But we won some games we probably shouldn’t have, lost some we could have won, and we were certainly a nuisance to most everyone on our schedule.
“I believe that our softball program is on a very positive trajectory. We doubled our win total from last year and had a solid, winning season. We expect everyone but Cloey back next year, our JV team won 17 games and our CAMS program is really taking off.”
