Lady Knights take the field on college campus
Cullowhee – With the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly in the rearview mirror, Robbinsville skipper Billy Knight deemed it time to revive what was once a yearly tradition.
With the Lady Knights asked to forego the normal downtime of spring break, Knight enlists the help of Western Carolina University and Young Harris (Ga.) College to give his players a chance to experience a softball field at the next level.
Monday took Robbinsville (10-2) to Cullowhee for the first of two games on a collegiate field this week – the Lady Knights faced Copper Basin, Tenn., at Young Harris after The Graham Star’s Wednesday press deadline – and though the outcome was not ideal, Knight noted that there is more to the game than wins and losses.
“I started doing this my second year of coaching softball,” Knight said after Monday’s 11-1 loss to Enka (8-4). “It goes back to when I was young and I got to play on McCormick Field (home of the Asheville Tourists). I never forgot that experience.
“I’m a big believer that there’s bigger things than winning championships. Life is all about memory and experiences. If this puts a glimmer of a dream in a kid’s eye, I’ve done my job.”
It had been three years since Robbinsville fell victim to a run-rule: a 12-2 loss at T.C. Roberson on March 27, 2019.
Victory seemed within reach Monday until the fifth. Robbinsville had limited the Sugar Jets to just three runs, but Enka promptly scored six runs in the frame, which featured the second solo homer of the game from Hannah Daves and a grand slam off the bat of Bentlee Chockley.
The Knights were stymied at the plate until the home half of the fifth inning, which Memory Frapp jumpstarted with a stand-up triple. Sarah Gibby then flew out to left field to score Memory, but Chockley and Daves roped a respective double and single in the sixth to extend Enka’s lead to 10.
Though Brook Turpin reached on a one-out bunt in the bottom of the inning, a double play ended Robbinsville’s comeback bid.
“This is the same thing that happened to us last year in the playoffs,” Knight said. “It was the same velocity and we hadn’t seen it. I told them after the game that our defense was solid; we just had not seen that velocity. But as the game went on, our at-bats got better and better and better.”
Rams jammed
Asheville – Robbinsville’s offense simply could not be stopped Saturday, as the Lady Knights cruised to a 17-4 road victory over the 3A T.C. Roberson Lady Rams.
Odom launched a two-run homer in the first, and though Rams starting pitcher Courtney Grimmer drove in a run to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning, the Lady Knights thundered back with a five-run second, which included doubles from Robbinsville hurler Memory Frapp, Liz Carpenter and Odom.
T.C. Roberson (1-9) continued to battle – as Ella Kirby scored on a Kylee Hutchinson hit, before Hayli Owens charged home on an error – but the Knights poured on four more runs in the third, which featured a 2-run triple from Fink, who finished the game with a team-high five RBI.
Robbinsville then fanned out six more runs across the fourth and the fifth, while the Lady Rams could only muster one more charity run down the stretch – a single from Abbie Holland that scored Fallon White.
Memory Frapp earned her eighth win of the season in a complete-game effort, striking out seven T.C. Roberson batters.
Divisional win
Robbinsville – In its only home game of the week, the Lady Knights improved to 7-0 in the Smoky Mountain Conference with a 7-2 win over Cherokee on April 7.
As Robbinsville often does, the Knights took advantage of their first round of batting to strike. Fink scored on an error, while Memory Frapp singled to score Turpin.
Amila Lossie crossed the plate for Cherokee on a second-inning error, but Robbinsville snatched the run back when Sarah Gibby scored on a Lady Braves error in the home-half of the frame. Robbinsville then pulled away with a Memory Frapp triple in the third – which plated courtesy runner Abby Adams – while Ally Ayers drove in courtesy runner Taelyr Jackson during the next at-bat.
The Lady Knights rounded out their scoreline in the fourth, when Turpin raced home on an error and Memory Frapp flew out to drive in Shuler. Cherokee (4-8, 4-3) edged out one more run in the fifth, when Aaliyah Reed scored on a passed ball.