Both squads still eyeing second-place league finishes

EDITOR’S NOTE: Bulldog Baseball locked up their regular-season runner-up finish with a back-to-back wins over Pickett County Monday and Tuesday after the newspaper went to press. See next week’s newspaper for more details.

CELINA-The Clay County High School softball and baseball teams combined to play seven games last week, with all but one of them taking place here at home.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the stretch with a 2-2 record to get to 10-6 on the season, while the Bulldogs went winless and carried a 5-10 mark into action this week.

The Clay County girls swept a home doubleheader from Clarkrange with 12-1 and 10-0 wins over the Lady Buffaloes, but they dropped contests to Gordonsville (0-10) and Macon County (5-7).

The Dawgs fell twice to Gordonsville (0-7 and 0-11) and were also beaten by non-conference foe Westmoreland (4-21).

Both teams still held onto second place positions in District 7-A behind the league-leading Gordonsville squads, as the Lady Bulldogs moved to 4-2 in conference play and the Clay County boys were 3-3.

The Bulldogs were set to play Pickett County Monday in Byrdstown and here on Tuesday, before traveling to Livingston Academy Thursday and Westmoreland on Friday.  They were also scheduled to host Monterey next Monday, April 21.

The Lady Dawgs had all road games on tap this week, with trips to Westmoreland Monday, Trousdale County Thursday, and Albany, KY for tournament action this weekend.  They were also set to play at Pickett County next Tuesday, April 22.

The Horizon Sports Network planned to cover only one game this week due to the softball road trips.

The live-stream affiliate of the newspaper was set to broadcast the Dawgs versus Pickett County Tuesday night live at Facebook.com/dalehollowhorizon.

Lady Bulldog

top performers

Highlighting the Lady Dawgs’ week were performances by sophomore Jenna Thompson, senior Jaid Walker, juniors Reagan Cherry and Baylor Walden, and freshman Rylee Baxter.

Thompson went 2-2 against UT commit Kailey Plumlee in the Gordonsville loss and now leads the team with a .475 batting average.  She also sprinkled in four other hits last week.

Walker had a three-for-four night at the plate against Clarkrange and three runs batted in.  She now leads the Lady Dawgs with 17 RBIs on the season and has a .388 average.

Cherry went a perfect four for four against Macon County and currently leads her team in both hits and runs scored, with 21 in each category.

Walden and Baxter both pitched well last week and have all season.  Walden was 4-2 on the year heading into this week’s action, while Baxter was 5-4 with a whopping 80 strikeouts.

Baxter had 18 in two games against Clarkrange and also went two for three in the batter’s box in the Macon County loss.

Walden (.419) joins Thompson, freshman Lila Birdwell (.455), and Cherry (.404) with batting averages north of .400 on the season, and she has also hit a pair of home runs this year.

Bulldog leaders

Leading the Bulldogs statistically is junior Brady Dailey in battling average (.256), hits (11), and RBIs (12).

Dailey has also pitched well for the Dawgs, along with senior Nate Adams, junior Witt Kasilkowski, and sophomores Kale Trobaugh and Mason Wallace.

Junior Nolan Adams has been Clay County’s ace pitcher, and he also leads the team in stolen bases (12) and home runs (2), after hitting a left-field bomb against Westmoreland last week and another in a win over Clarkrange.

Nolan Adams sports a 2.24 ERA and has 34 strikeouts in 25 innings of work on the mound.

Juniors Waylon Cherry (.250), Kolton Brown (.250), and Reece Adams (.207) are also on the upswing at the plate and headed into this week’s action with a batting average over .200.