Both teams heading down home stretch of regular season

CELINA-A total of seven games combined will wrap up the regular season for both Clay County Lady Bulldog Softball and Bulldog Baseball in the coming days.

After their home game with Monterey was cancelled due to weather Monday, the Dawgs only have a three contests remaining prior to the District 7-A Tournament.

They include a Senior Night matchup with Trousdale County here Wednesday night, a trip to Macon County Thursday night, and their home finale next Monday night versus Jackson County.

The Lady Dawgs were scheduled to travel to Pickett County Tuesday, before hosting Westmoreland for Senior Night Thursday, traveling to Red Boiling Springs Saturday, and rounding out their schedule at home versus Cookeville next Tuesday.

Senior Night festivities for both teams will begin at 5 p.m. on their respective nights, with games to follow at 5:30 p.m.

Each team will head into the postseason as a #2 seed and begin tournament play early next month.

Both Senior Night contests were set to be carried live on consecutive nights by the Horizon Sports Network at Facebook.com/dalehollowhorizon, along with the Dawgs’ battle with the Blue Devils and the Clay County girls’ season finale with Cookeville next week.

Dawgs sweep

Pickett County

The Bulldogs earned their second-place league finish with a sweep of Pickett County last week in back-to-back hard-fought wins.

Clay County outlasted the Bobcats 16-15 in Byrdstown, before sending them back home with a 10-8 defeat in Celina the next night.

The wins paced the Dawgs to a 5-3 conference record, and their overall mark was 7-12 heading into this week’s action, after falling to Livingston Academy 0-1 and Westmoreland 2-12.

Lady Bulldogs

split last week

The Lady Bulldogs dropped a couple of close games to start last week, before dominating north of the state line in tournament action in Albany, KY over the weekend.

They shut out Russell County, KY 7-0 and beat Nelson County, KY 7-1, after falling to Westmoreland 3-4 and Trousdale County 4-7.

The week’s split moved their overall record to 12-8, and they had a second-place league finish wrapped up with a 4-2 district mark with two games left to play.

Baseball top

performers

Junior Kolton Brown led the Dawgs with a four-for-five night at the plate in their first win over the Bobcats, while his classmate Waylon Cherry also had three hits and four others—senior Nate Adams and juniors Aiden Keen, Nolan Adams, and Witt Kaslikowski—added two hits apiece.

Kaslikowski and junior Brady Dailey both pitched well in the win, before Nolan Adams came in for the save following senior Hayden Adams scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning.

Sophomore Kale Trobaugh then did the same in the second win over Pickett County, as he retired the side in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded to secure the Bulldog victory, after driving home a pair of runs with a two-for-three outing in the batter’s box.  He also stole home in the contest.

Nolan Adams was on the mound for the first 18 outs of the game.  He threw 12 strikeouts and also joined Trobaugh, Dailey, and Brown with a pair of hits in the victory.

Trobaugh then held Livingston’s bats a bay, allowing only three hits and no earned runs, but the Dawgs went cold at the plate and were no hit by the Wildcats.  Kaslikowski also pitched one no-hit inning.

Sophomore Mason Wallace then started on the mound at Westmoreland, where he, Dailey, and Nolan Adams—who had the only two Bulldog hits of the day—had no answer for the hot bats of the Eagles.

Heading into action Wednesday, Brown led the Bulldogs in batting average (.298) and hits (14), while Dailey had the most RBIs (15) and Nolan Adams was the home run leader (2).

Softball top

performers

Junior Baylor Walden pitched a total of 11 strikeouts, sophomore Haylen Garrison went three for four at the plate, and the Lady Dawgs totaled eight hits in the Lady Dawgs’ one-run loss to Westmoreland.

Garrison, junior Reagan Cherry, and freshman Analiece Dailey then all three had solid three-for-four nights at the plate in the Trousdale County defeat, where Walden added another pair of hits.

Walden also hit a home run as a part of a two-for-four, four-RBI night in her first outing in Albany, KY, where she went the distance in the circle for the win.

Cherry again hit the ball well and went three for four in the box, freshman Riley Baxter was a perfect three for three, and senior Jaid Walker also had a pair of hits.

In the Lady Dawgs’ final game last week, Baxter was dominant in the circle.  She pitched 12 strikeouts, allowed one walk, and only gave up one run on one hit.

Baxter and Walden both had two hits in the win, while Walker was a perfect three for three at the plate.

Prior to this week’s action, Walden was leading her team in batting average (.439) and home runs (3), while Cherry had the most hits (28) and Walker was the RBI leader (19).