Robbinsville – The final home games of the regular season featured two Robbinsville programs meeting two Hayesville teams – and both in stark contrast of the other.
The Lady Knights are sitting atop the Smoky Mountain Conference standings, as are the Hayesville Yellow Jackets baseball team. Each have only one conference loss and are on the express line for deep playoff runs.
Meanwhile, the Robbinsville Black Knights and Lady Jackets are further down the rankings. Hayesville (2-8, 2-9) are sixth in the divisional race; Robbinsville (7-12, 4-7) has dropped to fifth in the pack and seen its playoff hopes significantly diminish after a magical 6-2 run just a few weeks ago.
The two clubs met on Senior Night, on opposite ends of the campus. Robbinsville (14-4, 9-1) easily handled the Jackets on the softball diamond, 7-0; while the Black Knights watched a 7-run deficit spiral into 16 after Hayesville (10-3, 10-1) piled on nine in the seventh to wrap up a 17-2 victory.
Lady Knights
The Robbinsville shutout on Judy Nichols Memorial Field served as a return to normal for the Lady Knights, after a Friday trek to Hiwassee Dam bore no fruit.
Field conditions were questionable when Robbinsville arrived at the westernmost high school in North Carolina, for what ultimately could have been the Smoky Mountain Conference title game. Hiwassee Dam (11-5, 9-1) had traveled to Graham County on April 25 and handed the Knights their first home divisional loss in four years, 8-7.
Needless to say, the Knights wanted to play – yet the red Georgia clay was spongy; the outfield littered with water puddles; and despite copious amounts of Quick Dry, the path from the circle to home plate was perilous, at best.
At 3:45 p.m., head coaches Billy Knight (Robbinsville) and Roger Adams (Hiwassee Dam) met for a summit at home plate, with field umpire Phillip Orr and Eagles athletic director David Payne present for the discussion.
Five minutes later, the game was postponed and as of press time, had not been rescheduled.
So Tuesday’s assignment with the Jackets proved to be Robbinsville’s only action in a week. The Lady Knights made the most of the chance to play – especially seniors Kensley Phillips and Fala Welch. Both had multi-hit afternoons, with the latter raking two doubles in the game.
In fact, Welch’s first two-bagger of the game drove in Phillips, making the score 2-0 in the bottom of the second.
Zoie Shuler had bunted her way aboard to begin Robbinsville’s first offensive trip to the plate, swiped second and advanced to third on an error, before coming home on a wild pitch.
The Knights’ biggest strike came in the third, when four hits plated three runs in succession.
Claire Barlow reached on a bunt to leadoff the home portion of the fourth and later came in on an error, while Suri Watty singled to score Shuler in the sixth.
Inside the circle, Memory Frapp (10-2) was dominant. To go with her two-hit, two-RBI day at the plate, she blanked eight Hayesville batters and only gave up two hits in a complete-game effort. The performance shaved her ERA down to 2.87.
Black Knights
Sadly, Robbinsville’s baseball squad could not channel the same offensive prowess on Loudon Orr Memorial Field – despite enjoying the same time away from live action as their female counterparts.
The Black Knights finally erased a 6-0 fanning on a single from senior Lathan Buchanan in the bottom of the fifth, which brought classmate Caleb Turpin scrambling home. Bryce Adams later dashed across the dish in the bottom of the seventh on a passed ball.
Otherwise, Hayesville dictated the outcome. Kyle Lunsford doubled twice and collected two RBIs, while Michael Mauney stole four bases and also had a pair of RBIs. Cooper Matheson’s four-RBI evening paced the Jackets offense.
On the hill, Hayesville kept its pitch count down for today’s return pairing with Robbinsville. Starter Braxton Cherry logged just 2 ⅔ innings of work, but had six strikeouts in the short outing. Knights hurler Ethan Orr fell to 2-7 after tossing 5 ⅓ innings and striking out four Yellow Jackets.