Horizon Sports Network’s spring broadcast season underway

CELINA-Clay County High School spring sports teams have entered the heart of their schedules and the action ramps up this week here on the diamond.

Both Lady Bulldog Softball and Bulldog Baseball were set to play three home games prior to week’s end, all of which were scheduled to occur simultaneously on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights.

The Horizon Sports Network also planned to carry several of the games live on the Dale Hollow Horizon Facebook page (see broadcast schedule at Facebook.com/dalehollowhorizon).

The live-stream affiliate of the newspaper kicked off their broadcast season with Tuesday night’s softball matchup between the Lady Dawgs and the Gordonsville Tigerettes after HORIZON press time, and they will continue coverage of both teams throughout the remainder of the season.

The Clay County girls entered their first contest of the week with an impressive 8-4 overall record, and they were 2-1 in District 7-A play.

The Bulldogs, who were scheduled play four games this week, were set to host the Tigers from the same school Tuesday night looking to improve on their 5-7 mark and 3-1 conference record.

A road trip to Gordonsville was to follow Wednesday, before they return home to face Trousdale County Thursday and Westmoreland Friday.

To start next week, the Dawgs will play at Pickett County Monday and host the same team here Tuesday.

The rest of this week for the Lady Dawgs includes a Thursday doubleheader here with Clarkrange and a home game versus Macon County Friday, before they hit the road for Westmoreland next Monday.

Softball wins

last 3 games

After opening with a tough schedule and drawing close to even on the season, the Clay County girls won their last three games over Livingston Academy (LA), Pickett County, and Monterey.

They walked off a 7-6 victory over the Lady Wildcats to start the streak, before blowing out the Lady Bobcats 25-7 and beating Monterey 5-1.

In the bottom of the seventh inning with the game tied at six against LA, junior Emma Wix got hit by a pitch to score freshman Analiece Dailey, after she doubled to center field scoring sophomore Jenna Thompson—who had singled to start the inning.

Both sophomore Haylen Garrison and freshman Lila Birdwell had walked to load the bases following Dailey tying the game.

The late-game drama ensued after the Lady Wildcats struck first, and the Lady Dawgs rallied in the top of the second inning to go ahead 4-1.

Garrison and Birdwell both had hits to start the rally, before junior Reagan Cherry doubled and junior Baylor Walden hit a two-run home run to surge Clay County ahead by three runs.

LA then chipped away at the lead and claimed a 6-5 advantage heading into the bottom of the final inning, where Clay County claimed the come-from-behind win.

Walden—who went the distance on the mound to earn the win, Dailey, and Birdwell all had a pair of hits in the victory, 

In the blowout of Pickett County, the Lady Dawgs racked up a dozen hits, as Walden, Wix, Thompson, Dailey, and freshman Riley Baxter all had two each.

Sophomore Avrie Davis and Baxter shared time on the mound in the shortened three-inning, run-rule game, where Clay County scored 13 in the first and a dozen more in the second inning.

Then with Walden dealing on the mound, the Lady Dawgs took care of business at Monterey.

She again pitched the entire contest and only yielded two hits and tossed nine strikeouts.

Walden and senior Jaid Walker both doubled in the opening inning to put Clay County on the board first, and Cherry drove in a run in the second inning to make it 2-0.

Monterey then answered to make it a one-run game heading into the third inning, where Birdwell drove in a run to change to scoreboard to 3-1 and it stayed the same until the seventh inning.

In their final at-bats, Garrison and Birdwell both doubled to add a pair of insurance runs.

The Lady Dawgs had 10 hits in the contest, including a pair from Thompson, Dailey, and Birdwell.

Baseball had

won 4 straight

Prior to back-to-back losses at White County last week, the Clay County boys had won four-straight games and gotten even on the season.

They swept doubleheaders from both Bledsoe County and Clarkrange to accomplish the feat.

The Dawgs beat the Warriors 7-4 and 10-3, before downing the Buffaloes 6-3 and 13-2.

Junior Nolan Adams got the first win at Bledsoe County and pitched nine strikeouts, while junior Brady Dailey led Clay County at the plate with a two-for-three night and three runs batted in (RBIs).

The Dawgs fell behind 3-0 early, before rallying for the win with a total of seven hits in the contest.

Nolan and his senior brother Nate Adams then both had two hits in the second win over the Warriors, while junior Witt Kaslikowski and Dailey shared time on the mound and combined for eight strikeouts.

The younger Adams then remained dominant on the mound in the first matchup with Clarkrange, this time throwing 10 strikeouts and only allowing one earned run.

Junior Kolton Brown paced the Dawgs at the plate with a pair of hits in the victory.

Dailey, Kaslikowski, and Nolan Adams then combined to only allow two runs in the second win over the Buffaloes, while five different Bulldogs recorded hits.

Nolan Adams stroked a home run to left field; junior Reece Adams, sophomore Kale Troubaugh, and Dailey all hit RBI doubles; and junior Aiden Keen singled.

Clay County also had a total of 10 stolen bases in the two wins over Clarkrange.

At White County, the Dawgs had trouble getting their bats going against the Warriors.

Nate and Reece Adams had Clay County’s only two hits in the opening 18-1 loss, before Brown was responsible for the Dawgs’ lone hit in the second 7-1 defeat at the hands of the much-larger White County school.