By Allison Canter

The Lady Huskies' varsity softball team at Ashe County High School continues to battle the weather in their

quest to get more practice in and to add some wins. Ashe County now stands at 1-5 overall.

Head Coach Bill Key said that most of their losses have been by only one run.

"Better weather would help to get more practice in," he said. "Most of our losses are by one run and we're playing better than our record shows. We just need to put some wins together."

In the Lady Huskies' game with Starmount on March 24, they fell 1-0. Senior pitcher Kendra Yearick struck out 11 batters and pitched a really good game, according to Key. "We just couldn't get anything going at the plate," he said. "We didn't hit the ball well."

Starmount's only run came in the sixth inning when they were able to reach base on an error by Ashe then another Starmount player batted in the run. Key said Starmount only had three hits in the game.

Junior Varsity team member, Allison Powers, played for the varsity team in the Starmount game because regular short stop, Erin Covington, was sick and couldn't play. Powers went 1-for-3 with a double. Annie Hegar was 2-for-3 at the plate and Hilary Bowlin was 1-for-2 for Ashe. Key said the team just didn't put enough hits together to score any runs.

"We played really good defense and had good plays; just no offense," said Key.

Ashe County's March 26 game with North Wilkes was postponed until Friday, April 10. The girls were scheduled to play in the Morganton Tournament on March 28 and 29, but the games were rained out and will not be made up since they are non-conference games.

On March 31, Ashe hosted Alleghany and won 11-1. The mercy rule was called after five innings because Ashe was up by 10 in the fifth.

Yearick threw 12 strike outs. "She's very consistent every game," said Key. Yearick also was 1 for 3 at the plate. Hegar was 2-for-2, scoring three runs. Bowlin was 3 for 3, scoring one run. Tasha Faw and Ariel Farmer both went 2 for 3 and scored one run each. Katie Thore also knocked out a double for the win.

On Friday, April 3, Ashe fell to Forbush, 3-0. Key said that Forbush's defense was very good, and their offense was so fast that it really forced the defense to react quickly. He said the Forbush runs were scored on errors, all in the third inning. "We played sound defense except for that one inning," said Key. "We had scattered hits, but nothing put together for runs."

Ashe County will host Grayson County on Thursday, April 9, weather permitting. Key said they usually have a very competitive and very close game with Grayson County. The Lady Huskies will travel to North Wilkes on Friday, April 10, to round out the week. Next week will begin with game at Surry Central on Tuesday, April 14.