Oh what a difference a couple months can make. Just ask the girls on the Glenvar softball team.
On a chilly day on March 19 the Salem High girls visited Glenvar and beat the Highlanders by slaughter rule, 10-0. Glenvar would not win another game, discounting two forfeits from Martinsville, until May 7th when the Highlanders beat Radford. However, their play had steadily improved to that point and Glenvar was anxious get another shot at border rival Salem, who has also struggled this year.
The result? Last Thursday at the James I. Moyer Complex in Salem the Highlanders scored the most runs in a game this season in a 17-5 win over Salem. Both teams will try to keep their seasons alive in region tournaments that begin next week.
Last Thursday at the Moyer Complex the Highlanders jumped to a an early 4-0 lead over the Spartans. However, the prideful Salemites battled back to take a 5-4 lead. It was Senior Night for the Spartans and the team’s only senior, Khia Priest, swatted a three-run homer in the second inning to fuel the Salem uprising. It was the first homer of her high school career.
The lead was short lived as Glenvar’s offense came alive with 13 hits and also benefited from 13 walks by Salem pitchers. The Highlanders scored five runs in the top of the third to regain the lead at 9-5. Glenvar pitcher Jaycee Nunley shut out the Spartans in the fourth and fifth and the visitors put three on the board in the fourth and five more in the fifth to win by slaughter rule, 17-5.
Nunley went the distance in the circle for Glenvar, allowing seven hits. Zella Hayes and Haley Leginus had three hits each for Glenvar and combined to drive in eight runs, five by Hayes and three by Leginus. Audrey Moles hit an inside-the-park three run homer and Moles and Hayden Hartz had two hits each.
For Salem, Reagan Van Doren and Emory Coe were both two-for-three at the plate, while Kayden Dalton and Anne Crew had one hit each.
Salem was back in action Friday with a home game against Pulaski but it didn’t go well. The Spartans lost 17-0 to the Cougars to fell to 5-17 on the season. Salem will play in the “four-five” game at Jefferson Forest next Tuesday, May 26, to open Region 4D play.
Glenvar was hanging on as the eighth seed in the Region 2C tournament. The Highlanders are 5-16 after losing at Floyd County Tuesday night, 19-1. The Highlanders were held to four hits, one each by Moles, Zella Hayes, Chloe Maxey and Mia Bayarsaikhan.
The Highlanders were scheduled to wrap up the regular season on Wednesday with a home game against Patrick County.
