Lady Knights extend winning streak to 10 in a row
Eighteen games into the season, opponents are still trying to find the weak point on the Lady Knights’ roster.
Good luck.
Just in the last week, Robbinsville (16-2, 8-0) made short work of its latest sprint. On the Knights’ home turf, Cherokee (5-5, 2-5) succumbed to an 11-1 drubbing April 18; Smoky Mountain (5-8) ceded the season series in a 16-1 trouncing Monday at Judy Nichols Memorial Field; and Robbinsville capped the run by packing up the attack to deliver a 13-0 road win Tuesday at Hayesville (1-10, 1-8).
In the latest stretch, senior shortstop Zoie Shuler has popped five home runs; Memory Frapp teed off twice at Hayesville (with Anna Williams adding one for good measure); and freshman Presley Caylor got into the homer column for the first time at the varsity level Monday.
Collectively, Robbinsville has smashed 26 long balls this season, with Shuler knocking eight over the wall; newcomer Sophie Roberts launching seven to date; Naomi Taylor and Memory Frapp hitting three apiece; and both freshman catcher Dreylee Webster and sophomore center fielder Anna Williams each clearing the fence twice; and Caylor’s debut smash earlier this week.
If small ball is what you require, Robbinsville has you covered there as well. Suri Watty has doubled eight times this season and though she has no home runs (yet), the sophomore second baseman leads the Knights with 30 RBIs.
As a unit, the team’s batting average is .397.
Shuler is hoping to break yet another record in the annals of Robbinsville athletics history. She broke the Lady Knights’ all-time stolen base benchmark April 16 at Hiwassee Dam (Abigail Knight had 90 between 2016-19) and by Wednesday’s press deadline, had ample opportunity to set a new standard that could stand the test of time: Shuler currently has 93 – and counting.
But what about keeping opponents in check? Robbinsville’s staff – yes, the Lady Knights have multiple pitchers, a rarity in 1A – has a 2.83 ERA and eclipsed the 100-strikeout mark Tuesday at Hayesville, divvied between Frapp (56), Taylor (34) and Caylor (2-1 this year, with eight strikeouts).
Anyone due up down the stretch against the Lady Knights can only hope for the best: Robbinsville has put together its most well-rounded team since the famed 2019 program that ran to the 1A Western Regional Final. All that remains on the docket are divisional games: a 3-game homestand against Hayesville (Friday), Hiwassee Dam (5-5, 4-3, Monday) and Murphy (12-1, 9-0, Tuesday), before what could be the conference title game wraps up the regular season Thursday, May 2 at Murphy.
When assessing the Knights’ latest triumphs, there is plenty of evidence to support Robbinsville’s argument as the top dog in the West.
Highlights all around
Robbinsville scored in all but the fourth inning against Cherokee, with Liz Carpenter, Caylor and Williams all doubling. Caylor alone was 3-for-3 at the dish, with two RBIs. Helping the cause was Shuler roping a pair of home runs, while also swiping two bases and racking up three RBIs of her own.
Taylor (7-1) only struck out three Braves in the win – but on the flip side, only coughed up just three hits to the visitors. Cherokee’s lone moment of glory came in the fifth, when Awee Walkingstick flew out to bring Kieran Wolfe.
The Knights poured out 12 runs in the first inning of their season debut March 4 at Smoky Mountain, but managed to muster a mere six in the bottom of the first during Monday’s return clash.
No matter, though: Robbinsville never let off the gas pedal, even after Watty began her productive evening with an RBI double; Frapp singled in a pair of runners and Caylor blistered her first varsity homer – all in the first inning.
Shuler kickstarted the bottom of the second with her third homer in two games. Taylor and Ella Atwell had back-to-back RBI singles, while Webster drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home run No. 10. Taylor soon came in on an error, while Watty later connected to score two more.
The game was sealed in the bottom of the fourth, when Roberts grounded out to plate Shuler, and a pair of fielding miscues ushered in Watty and courtesy runner Olivia Lewis.
In addition to her 3-for-3 afternoon at the dish, Frapp (7-0) continued the hot pursuit for her own piece of Robbinsville lore: eight strikeouts in four innings of work brought her to within seven of Jerri Anna Roper’s 351 career strikeouts, also set between 2016-19.
Tuesday’s journey to Clay County showed that the Knights are not entertaining the idea of slowing down. Shuler and Frapp both homered twice, while Williams hit her second of the campaign to round out the derby.
Shuler and Frapp also had four RBIs each in the victory, while Caylor hammered three hits – one of which was a double, a category that Atwell, Roberts and Watty both delved into Tuesday as well.
Taylor fired three innings from the rubber to get the win, before Caylor hurled two innings of one-hit work to round out the effort.