REGIONAL BRIEFS: Stallard Helps Pound Drop Wildcats

Bristol Herald Courier

Katie Stallard went 2-for-4 and blasted a home run during a seven run third inning as the Pound Wildcats held on for an 8-6 softball win over non-district rival St. Paul.

LaKrisha Isaac (3-for-4, two RBIs) and Brooke Stidham (2-for-2, two doubles) also had big days at the plate. Candace Shortt was the winning pitcher, while Sarah Hartsock recorded the save.

St. Paul scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it couldn’t complete a comeback.

St. Paul’s Amanda Bradley went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Meanwhile, Lindsey Dickenson hit her second home run of the season for the Deacons.

Lee High 19, Appalachia 4

Shortstop Chelsea Cluesman went 5-for-5 with four RBIs to highlight Lee High’s 23-hit attack as the Generals crushed non-district rival Appalachia.

Lee High scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back. Rachel Wynn, Lauren Hatfield and Ashley Dickenson added three hits apiece for Lee.

Catherine Rainey was 1-for-3 with a run and RBI to lead Appalachia.

Clintwood 9, Council 4

Courtney Rose had a memorable day — going 3-for-3 and also tossing a three-hitter to earn the win — as Clintwood cruised past non-district rival Council.

Amber Willis added three RBIs for Clintwood

Powell Valley 15, Rye Cove 0

Powell Valley improved to 2-0 with a six inning non-district win over Rye Cove. The Vikings scored three runs in the first inning and cruised from there.

PREP BASEBALL

Clintwood 14, Twin Valley 9

Derek Robbins and Russell Hull both smashed home runs as Clintwood outlasted Twin Valley in a non-district slugfest.

The score was tied at nine after three innings and the teams combined for eight errors.

Honaker 11, Castlewood 9

The Tigers put up nine runs in the first two innings and then held on for the win.

Logan Ball went 3-for-3 with three RBIs for Honaker (1-0), while Aaron Whited was 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

Chris Smith went 3-for-4 with a double and RBI to lead the Blue Devils (1-2), and Casey Phillips added three RBIs.

BOYS SOCCER

Marion 2, Pulaski 0

Travis Asbury and Raul Ruiz scored for the Scarlet Hurricanes, while Jason Mendez and Jordan Burrows added assists.

Caleb Parsons and Wes Meschamp combined to record 12 saves for Marion (1-0).

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Highland Cavs postponed

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise has postponed its doubleheader with Georgetown, originally scheduled for Friday in Wise.

No makeup date has yet been set. The Highland Cavaliers will face Roanoke on Saturday.

The school also moved its home doubleheader with Bluefield up to March 27 at 2 p.m.

Bucs take two

Getting a pair of late scores in both games, the ETSU softball team enjoyed a doubleheader sweep of Milligan College, winning 6-4 and 4-3 Thursday afternoon at Metro Kiwanis Park.

ETSU improvedto 11-17 on the year, while the Buffs dropped to 10-11.

The Bucs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first game of the doubleheader, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first thanks to a two-run double from junior Jessie Hackworth and a run-scoring single by sophomore Katy Jett.

ETSU kept the heat on in the bottom of the second, adding a run on a home run blast by sophomore Marissa Hardy.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Roanoke 5, Emory & Henry 2

The Wasps outhit Roanoke 13-8, but it was not enough.

Seth Hyder (Sullivan Central), Josh Rigney, Derek Brown and Anthony Lowry had two hits apiece for E&H (5-16, 0-7 ODAC).

Nick Windom hit a solo home run for the Wasps in the second inning.

E&H will travel to Eastern Mennonite Saturday for a noon doubleheader.

Bucs blast back

A 10-run first inning set the tone for ETSU, as the Bucs cruised to a 21-4 win over Jacksonville at Sessions Stadium in Jacksonville on Thursday night.

The Bucs outhit the Dolphins 16-14.

ETSU (2-15, 2-7) received a strong outing from senior Brandon Langston, who went six innings, giving up four runs on 11 hits and striking out seven in his first win of the season.

Senior Anthony Russell began the onslaught with a double to center, driving in Nick Belcher (Abingdon, Va.).

The Bucs also hit three home runs, as Troy Mendez, Bart Roark and Russell all sent shots over the fence.

AUTO RACING

Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was the most watched sporting event of the last weekend, according to the Television Performance Summary issued by NASCAR on Thursday.

The race topped the No. 2 event, the NCAA Tournament selection show on CBS, as well as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and all college basketball conference tournaments and NBA games.

The sold-out NASCAR Sprint Cup event scored a 5.5 rating on FOX, up eight percent over the 5.1 rating for the 2007 event, which also aired on FOX. The pre-race show, aired by FOX, earned a 3.4 rating.

The Sharpie MINI 300 Nationwide Series race was the third most-viewed Nationwide Series event in the history of BMS. The green flag portion of the race earned a 2.0 rating on ABC.

The ratings of the summary were based on the live and same day data information, as well as the size of the network.