CCL softball play sees two pitchers rule the roost

By Matt Wilson
STAR Correspondent

   Hard-throwing pitchers named Kayla were the story of the night Thursday in Carter County League softball play.
   Kayla Winters of Miller's Plumbing and Kayla Blevins of Peters' Construction dominated the diamond at Unaka Elementary.
   Miller's Plumbing downed BNR Construction 17-0 in the first game. The girls from BNR were overwhelmed by Miller's flame-throwing lefty, Kayla Winters.
   Winters hurled a no-hitter and struck out six of the 11 batters she faced. The only dents in Winters' armor were the two batters who reached base after being hit by a pitch.
   The two hit batsmen only seemed to intimidate the opposing team more. Miller's jumped on the board early when Mikki Oliver reached base on an error by the shortstop. Oliver then swiped second and third base.
   Emily Asher reached after being plunked by BNR pitcher Whitney Vines. Hannah Colbaugh then drove in the only run her team would need with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Older sister Amy Colbaugh followed by plating Asher with a solid single to right.
   Britney Brown brought home the elder Colbaugh with a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield.
   Staked to an early lead, Winters and her battery mate Hannah Colbaugh then went to work on the BNR squad. Winters struck out the side in the first and never looked back. The humble ace complimented her teammates after the game and gave an insight into her work ethic.
   "My teammates played well behind me tonight," she said. "I just want to learn to pitch better every time out."
   Peters' Construction 10
   David's Trophies 0
   Kayla Blevins completed the pitching-dominant performances in the nightcap as she led her Peters' Construction squad to a 10-0 drubbing of David's Trophies.
   Blevins, the Cloudland High School standout, dominated on the rubber and in the batter box as she went 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
   Peters' scored two runs in the opening frame as Jeri Jones walked and promptly stole second and third. Jones scored on an RBI single to right field by Blevins. Blevins moved up to second on a passed ball, then scored on an error by the second baseman off the bat of Daranda Byrd.
   Two runs were plenty for Blevins, who went the distance and showed impeccable control, walking only one batter all night.
   The Peters' Construction team broke the game open in the third after some costly errors by the David's Trophy squad hurt the chances of the tough-luck losing pitcher Sallee Taylor.
   Taylor allowed only four hits, but the big blow of the night came in the third as Blevins crushed a towering fly ball to dead center with the bases loaded, giving her team a comfortable 10-0 lead.
   David's Trophies threatened in their final at bat as Erica Wilson and Kristina Heaton both ripped solid singles, the only hits of the night for their team. But Blevins slammed the door on the comeback, getting Amber Cannon to ground out to the first baseman to end the game.
   Chappelle 17
   Iron Mountain Survey Co. 16
   In the early game of the younger girls division, Chappelle outlasted Iron Mountain Survey Co.
   Both teams' young pitchers had trouble coming to grips with the mechanics of windmill pitching, but the girls got some much-needed experience.
   Iron Mountain Survey jumped out to a giant 14-0 lead; however the feisty Chappelle squad battled back to cut the lead 16-14 going in to the final frame.
   Kassie Winters found out the meaning of the old adage "taking one for the team" as she was hit by a pitch that plated the game-winning run in her team's final at-bat to give her team the win.
   Brittany Greene was the winning pitcher and Alicia Colbaugh had a game-high two hits.