INDEPENDENCE — Grayson County rallied twice and finally subdued Galax 8-6 in a soggy first-round game in the Mountain Empire District softball tournament Monday at the Grayson Rec. Park.
ROUNDUP
Trailing 5-4 entering the top of the sixth, Galax led off with singles by Jayden Leonard and Beth Sizemore. Then with two outs the Maroon Tide got an Emily Edwards single, a K.K. Barnes single and a hit batter to bring in Leonard and Sizemore for a 6-5 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, however, as Grayson County regained the lead with two runs without the benefit of a base hit. Chasity Wilson and Kylie Pope each drew a walk to spark the rally, Kamryn Arduin reached on an error and a series of ground-ball outs brought in three runs.
Galax opened the scoring with two runs in the third as Lauren Bouchard singled and scored on an Edwards double, and Danni Boyles singled to bring in Edwards. The Blue Devils rebounded immediately as Pope walked to lead off the bottom of the third, Arduin reached on an error and Laney Testerman stroked a three-run home run to highlight a four-run Grayson County frame.
Galax knotted the score at 4-4 with two runs in the fifth when, with two out, Boyles singled and Makayla Miller blasted a game-tying two-run shot to right-center.
Galax outhit Grayson County 13-7 with Sizemore collecting three hits and Edwards, Boyles and Lindsay Elliott supplying two apiece. Six different Blue Devils had at least one hit, led by Hiley Boyer’s 2-for-4 effort.
Fourth-seeded Grayson County (10-10) moved on to today’s district semifinals against No. 1 Auburn and also earned a spot in the upcoming Region 1C tournament. Galax’s season came to a close at 7-10.
BASEBALL
Galax 7, Bland County 1: The Maroon Tide turned a one-run lead into a six-run cakewalk with a late surge in the MED quarterfinals Monday at Felts Park.
Ahead 2-1, fourth-seeded Galax (11-7) added a run to its lead in the home half of the fourth on Kale Carter’s RBI single before the Maroon Tide opened it up with four runs in the fifth. Jayson Stuart singled up the middle to score Kolton Barnes, who had led off the inning with a double. Stuart advanced on a deep fly ball and scored on A.J. Ashworth’s ground-out, and the Tide tacked on two more runs on a Bland County error.
Ashworth’s RBI single had spotted Galax a 1-0 lead in the first and another run scored on a ground-out, but No. 5 seed Bland drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to trim the deficit to 2-1.
Simon Hanks worked 5.2 scoreless innings in a relief role to pick up the pitching win. He allowed two hits and one walk, striking out seven. Brody Robinson had two hits and Ashworth two RBIs to lead the Galax offense. The win earned the Maroon Tide a spot in next week’s Region 1C tournament and sends Galax to No. 1 Auburn today (Friday) for the MED semifinals.
Grayson County 10, Giles 2: The Blue Devils scored nine runs in the first two innings and coasted to the MED quarterfinal win Monday at the Grayson Rec. Park.
Three Grayson County pitchers limited the Spartans to two runs on four hits while the Blue Devil bats got busy early. Two errors, a walk and a two-run Matthew Rector double had Grayson County (13-8) leading 4-0 at the end of the first and the Blue Devils poured it on in the second. With two out and two on, Mac Goad, Makray Goad and Adam Pennington each stroked a run-scoring single, with Pennington’s hit knocking in two. A bases-loaded beanball to Mack Sindler capped the big inning with Grayson leading 9-0. Pennington rounded out the Blue Devil scoring with an RBI single in the sixth. He drove in three runs on a 2-for-3 day while Mac Goad and Makray Goad added two hits each.
Grayson County, the second seed, moved on to the semifinals at home today against the winner of Thursday’s rain-delayed Fort Chiswell-George Wythe quarterfinal.