Clash good for pioneers
Watauga beats

Montour, falls to Bandys
From staff reports

MORGANTON — Though Watauga’s softball team did not come away with two victories, the Pioneers went 1-1 in the Alexander’s Central Clash of the Champions over the weekend.

For Watauga coach Brian Vannoy, who saw his team fall 4-1 to East Burke just two days before, it was good to get back into the win column. The Pioneers won’t play again until this weekend since they are on spring vacation.

“Today was a good day for us heading into spring break,” Vannoy said. “We’ll take a few days off to enjoy the break and to heal some injuries, then we’ll get back to it to prepare for this Saturday. While I would like to go 2-0 on the day, we did some good things that we haven't been doing. We were much more successful with our bunting game and with our baserunning.”

Watauga (4-5) began last Saturday’s games with a 3-2 win over Montour, Pa. The Pioneers scored three runs in the sixth inning to surge past Montour, which had scored twice in the fourth.

“To play a team the caliber of Montour and to win coming from behind late in the game is important for this team,” Vannoy said. “This is the same team and the same pitcher that held Alexander down the night before, losing 3-0 to the Cougars. Nicole (Reilly) pitched well again and except for the fourth inning where we committed all four errors, we played very well defensively. We finally pieced together our hits and it came at a very good time, obviously.”

Watauga got a triple from Beth Wilson to tie the game 2-2 in the sixth inning. Wilson then scored on a single by Hannah Yates.

Reilly made sure that the lead was safe. She struck out 12 the entire game and allowed just two hits. Neither of Montour’s runs were earned.

“They are a solid team with a good pitcher that has a lot of movement on her pitches,” Vannoy said of Montour. “They came in 0-2 with their losses coming to Alexander and North Davidson. Following our game, they defeated Crest, which eliminated us from the playoffs last year, so they are a very good team and it was a good test for our team.”

Things did not go so well for the Pioneers in their loss to Bandys. Watauga scored its lone run when Kayla Kincaid scored on a passed ball in the sixth inning. Bandys slowly built its lead by scoring two runs in the third and a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings.

Watauga did not help itself by leaving nine runners on base, seven of them in scoring position. Watauga finished with five hits and made three errors.

Pitcher Maddi Bakken gave up just two earned runs on seven hits. She struck out six and walked four.

“After the break, we didn’t come out with the same fire we had earlier in the day.” Vannoy said. “Bandys took advantage of our mistakes, while we left too many runners in scoring position. We need to find a way to push those runners across.”

Even though the day ended on a sour note, Vannoy was glad the Pioneers got the chance to play in the event.

“I was very glad we were invited to play,” he said. “Coach Monte Sherrill of Alexander put together a great day of games with some of the top teams participating. To be included in that field an to have a successful day with that is an accomplishment in itself for the girls.”

Watauga’s varsity plays again Saturday at 6 p.m. against Central Cabarrus in the Freedom Invitational at Freedom High. The jayvee team plays at Shuey Field in Morganton in a tournament. They’ll play Hibriten at 11:45 a.m. and follow with a game against South Caldwell at 1:30 p.m.