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By Joel Frady
Huskies shut out Mountaineers
The Ashe County High School baseball team took to the school's
field to face a familiar foe on Tuesday,
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March 10. It was the second "home game" for the Huskies
but the first in West Jefferson after their season-opener was
moved to West Wilkes High School because of bad field conditions.
In their opener, the team was down six players but still managed
to defeat the Mitchell Mountaineers 17-6 in five innings. The
Huskies had their entire 16-player roster on hand for Tuesday
night's game and cruised to an easy 10-0 win.
Defense proved key for the Huskies, who didn't commit any errors
and allowed only two hits and no runs. The defense showed a
big improvement from their previous meeting with Mitchell in
which they allowed six runs on five hits and committed five
errors.
Ashe County got onto the board early, scoring two runs in the
top of the first. The bats got hot in the second inning, however,
as the Huskies went through the entire line-up en route to scoring
seven runs and taking a 9-0 lead.
The Huskies slowed down offensively over the next two innings,
as senior Tatum Lemly scored the Huskies' only run over that
span in the third. The Huskies' defense never slowed down, however,
as pitchers Orrin Shatley and Ethan Wyatt each allowed only
one hit in three and two innings, respectively. The only hit
that Wyatt gave up occurred with two outs in the top of the
fifth and one out before the game was called due to the mercy
rule.
Ashe County Head Coach Ronnie Pruitt said that the difference
in the two wins against Mitchell was fundamental.
"We made the routine plays," he said of the 10-0 victory.
"Our pitchers pitched strikes and kept the ball low."
Eagles down Huskies in six
Ashe County traveled to Wilkesboro on Friday, March 13,
to open their Mountain Valley Conference schedule against the
defending conference champion, the Wilkes Central Eagles. The
game was played despite the weather, as a light rain accompanied
by a cold wind blanketed the field for the entire two-hour match.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, the weather set the tone for
the game as the Huskies gave up 11 straight runs en route to
the 13-3 loss.
The Huskies got off to a rough start offensively, going three
up, three down in the top of the first on a strikeout, a fly
ball and a grounder to the pitcher. The defense began the bottom
of the first well, throwing the first batter out as he tried
to steal second and getting the second to ground out. But Wilkes
Central senior Zach Jones singled down the third base line to
set up a two-run home run by freshman Martin Coon that hit the
pole of the North Carolina flag in center field.
Ashe County responded in the second inning, however, but only
after the first two batters struck out. Junior David Dalessandro
walked, then scored on the next play as junior Evan Gray hit
an RBI double. Senior Jonathan Elledge hit a single that advanced
Gray to third, then promptly stole second. Junior Cory Roten
advanced to first on a throwing error that allowed both Elledge
and Gray to score, putting the Huskies up 3-2 after one-and-a-half
innings.
Ashe County could never find an offensive groove for the rest
of the afternoon, however, as Wilkes Central slowly put the
game out of reach. The Eagles took the lead back in the bottom
of the second on a two-run home run by senior Clint Slater,
then scored five runs in the bottom of the third - including
a second two-run home run for Coon - to take a 9-2 lead into
the fourth.
The Huskies were able to slow the Eagles down, allowing one
run in the fourth inning and one in the fifth, but their offensive
woes prevented them from closing the gap. Wilkes Central got
two runners on base early in the sixth and scored the game-ending
run on a wild pitch.
Pruitt said that his team "looked lost out there"
against the defending conference champions.
"So much of [the game] was routine plays that we made mistakes
on," he said. He later noted that he thought that pitchers
Andrew Sexton and Daniel Waln "did a good job keeping the
ball over. They made it possible for the infield to make plays,
and we didn't make the plays."
He added that the weather didn't play a factor in the game since
Wilkes Central also had to play in it.
"I don't think the weather had anything to do with it,"
he said. "I just think it's a matter of guts. We didn't
make routine plays tonight and they did, and that was the difference
in the ball game."
Ashe County will host Avery High School on Wednesday, March
18, at 5 p.m. in West Jefferson. They will then play two conference
games in the next two days, traveling to Surry Central in Dobson
for a match on Thursday, March 19 (a game originally scheduled
for Tuesday, March 17) and then hosting North Surry on Friday,
March 20.
To find out more about the Ashe County High School baseball
program, call (336) 846-2400 or click to www.ashe.k12.nc.us/achs/web/home/index.htm.
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