Watauga can’t help Crawdads
From staff reports

HICKORY — Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson threw out the first pitch during Watauga County Day at L.P. Frans Stadium Monday night at the Hickory Crawdads game.

Clawson, who said she had never done that before, was able to get the ball to the catcher without bouncing it off the dirt at home plate. Following that, cast members from the long-running local musical Horn in the West some of them in full costume, sang the national anthem.

However, the game drew a sparse crowd of 959 fans. Monday is also the night that Highway 321 is closed from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. Tuesday morning because of road construction, forcing any Watauga residents who normally take the highway to go through Wilkesboro to get back to Boone.

Hickory lost to the West Virginia Power 9-3 and will play again Tuesday and Wednesday.

Both Hickory’s Jared Bolden and Andres James hit their first homers of the season for the Crawdads, while West Virginia’s Tony Sanchez collected three hits, including a homer, drove in three RBIs and scored four runs.

Sanchez is the Pittsburgh Pirates’ No. 1 pick from the 2009 June draft.

The Power (22-18, 49-61) got out in front with a run against Hickory starter Joe Wieland (3-4) in the top of the second inning and added two more in the top of the fourth to move ahead, 3-0. With one out in the top of the fifth, Sanchez hit a two-run homer, stretching the Power lead to five runs and concluding the night for Wieland.

The Crawdads (21-22, 54-58) struck for a run against Aaron Pribanic (1-1) in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the deficit to four runs. With one away in the inning, Bolden belted a ball over the right-center field wall for his first bomb of the campaign to make it 5-1.

West Virginia extended the lead to six runs in the top of the seventh with a couple of runs. Sanchez sparked a two-out rally with a double, before Kyle Morgan hit an RBI double of his own to drive in Sanchez. Morgan then scored on an RBI single by Quincy Latimore to put the Power ahead, 7-1.

The Crawdads bats again cut the West Virginia lead down to four runs in the bottom of the frame. James opened the inning with a solo shot over the left field wall off of Gabriel Alvarado. Mike Hollander scored all the way from first base on a two-out RBI double by Doug Hogan, making it 7-3.

Golf tournament
Casa Rustica is hosting its third annual charity golf tournament Aug. 27 at Red Tail Mountain to benefit Hospitality House. For more information, call (828) 406-7085.