Robbinsville incurs 1st conference loss of year
Robbinsville – If Tuesday’s game is any indicator, the Lady Knights are going to have to work extra hard to retain their monopoly on the Smoky Mountain Conference championship.
Winners of the last five divisional titles, Robbinsville (13-4, 8-1) was handed its first home conference loss since April 23, 2019 on Tuesday, when Hiwassee Dam (9-5, 7-1) delivered an 8-7, 9-inning defeat on Judy Nichols Memorial Field.
The Lady Knights forced extra innings in the bottom of the seventh, when Zoie Shuler drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a sacrifice popout. After a quiet eighth, Hiwassee Dam put just enough insurance on the board to sustain the ninth, when Payton McNabb hit one of four Lady Eagles’ doubles in the ballgame to drive in Kiera Taylor. Katie McNabb later roped a 2-out double of her own to score Payton and Olivia McNabb.
On Robbinsville’s final push, Anna Williams smacked a hit to plate Shuler, before Watty singled in Williams. However, Watty was thrown out on a fielder’s choice to stifle the second comeback bid of the afternoon.
Between Olivia McNabb and Robbinsville starter Memory Frapp (9-2), both gunslingers amassed a combined 18 surrendered hits, divided evenly; 277 pitches in their respective complete-game efforts (Frapp logged 17 more than Olivia); and fanned 20 batters in the 9-inning battle (Frapp struck out 12).
Prior to the downing, Murphy had upended the hosts 7-6 just over four years before; in fact, the Lady Bulldogs can also lay claim to being Robbinsville’s last divisional loss overall before Tuesday: a 14-10 road loss March 29, 2021.
Weather permitting, the Lady Knights can still clinch a piece of the conference crown Friday, when Robbinsville takes to the road to return the favor at Hiwassee Dam. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.
Rocket launchers
Four doubles also came off the bats of A.C. Reynolds on Saturday, as the Lady Rockets strung together a 15-hit afternoon to take off with a 10-2 win over Robbinsville.
The Knights had a tough time solving the puzzle of senior Bailey Payne, who fired 13 strikeouts past Robbinsville’s bats. Shuler homered for the fourth straight game – sending the ball over the right-field fence in the bottom of the first – but from there, the Knights were mostly kept at-bay. Kensley Phillips had a 2-out triple in the second and Watty led off with a single in the fourth; while Taelyr Jackson brought pinch hitter Olivia Lewis home in the seventh on a 2-out single.
A.C. Reynolds (11-5) was only sat down once in order – a quick top of the second – and Payne aided her cause with a one-out homer in the fifth.
Jump, jump
Home runs were no problem Friday, either, as Robbinsville and the visiting Andrews Lady Wildcats combined for five long balls in a 12-1 Knights victory.
Truthfully, the final outcome is not an indicator of how the game went. Andrews (1-15, 0-12) looked as polished as the program had in years, committing just one error and enjoying a solid beginning from senior hurler Summer Garrett, who retired Robbinsville on just four pitches in the first inning.
The Knights needed until the third to get rolling, but more than made up for lost time. Shuler homered with two outs, before Watty drove in Williams on a single later in the frame. Claire Barlow then joined the launch party in the fourth – a 2-run effort and her first-ever varsity homer – before Frapp put the finishing touches on the game itself with a 2-run dinger of her own in the sixth.
Shuler muscled her second home run of the day in the fourth, also good for two runs. Courtesy runner Abby Adams and Frapp each scored on errors in the fifth.
The Lady Cats lone run was posted in the sixth, thanks to a one-out Garrett home run. It was the first long ball delivered by a visitor to Robbinsville High this season.