Lately, the Huskies softball team has had difficulty not only with their opponents, but also with injuries as they have lost three players in the recent weeks due to injuries. First injury for the Huskies when Brittany Parsons went down during a play at first and suffered season ending injuries. Following Parsons, Kim McNeil suffered problems with her ankles, and prior to the game Wednesday evening, Caitlin Elliott went down with a severely sprained ankle for Ashe. For a team, three injuries is devastating, especially when all three players play the same positions.

Following Parsons’ injury, Kim McNeil was moved from second base to shortstop for the Huskies. Then following her injury, the Huskies moved Elliott up from the JV team to fill the shortstop gap, and then Wednesday with the unexpected injury of Elliott immediately before the game, the Huskies moved another JV player up to fill the varsity roster. Erin Covington made the tough transition from JV to varsity in a matter of minutes. Following a tough 7-3 loss in the JV game, where Covington was the Huskies’ leading offensive player, Covington changed jerseys and began warming up for the varsity game. Covington led the Huskies in the first game going 2-4 at the plate, and then was a contributor in the second game going 1-3 with an RBI. However, the RBI went unused as the Huskies had a tough time with the Starmount Rams as they lost 8-3.

The Huskies opened up the game with defensive lapses in the first inning and Starmount jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead at the middle of the first inning.

Kendra Yearick stepped up for the Huskies in an unusual manner. Typically, when I mention Yearick’s name, it is immediately followed with a strikeout total, run count, hits allowed, and other pitching statistics. However, Yearick stepped up offensively for the Huskies with a solo shot home run in the bottom half of the first inning to cut the Rams’ lead to 3-1 heading into the second inning.

Now Yearick returned to her normal domination over the opponents as she and the Huskies’ defense held the Rams scoreless in the second inning. However, the Rams scored four runs in the third inning and one run in the fourth inning to build an 8-1 lead. The Huskies offense would try to battle back in the fourth inning when a two-run short rally for Ashe brought the score to 8-3, but Starmount ended the rally before anymore damage could be done.

The game turned into a defensive battle for the rest of the game as neither team could score any runs in the closing three innings.

Yearick endured the loss on the mound for the Huskies. Yearick is 7-5 on the season, and pitched seven innings, with eight runs. However, five of the runs were unearned. Yearick only walked one batter, allowed ten hits, but fanned out thirteen batters.

Offensively, Chandler Christenson led the Huskies going 3-3 in the game. Yearick contributed going 1-2 with one run and one RBI coming off of a solo homerun. Covington made the quick transition to varsity play and went 1-3 with an RBI during the game.

The loss to Starmount came one day after a close, exciting win over North Surry. The Huskies had a tough match-up with the Greyhounds on Tuesday evening for the second time of the season. The first pairing of the two teams saw Ashe winning 2-1 off of a triple by Kim McNeil. The Huskies were able to claim their second victory of the season against North Surry on Tuesday evening, but in another close affair. The Huskies were able to score two runs in the fifth inning to claim a 3-0 late lead, then held the Greyhounds to only one run in the final two innings to claim the 3-1 victory.

Yearick pitched on Tuesday also. She went the full seven innings, allowing one unearned run, two hits, and delivered sixteen strikeouts to the Greyhounds.

The Huskies jumped out to a small 1-0 lead after two innings of play, and then added two more runs in the fifth inning to claim a 3-0 lead. North Surry scored one run in the sixth during an attempt to comeback, but Ashe prevailed winning 3-1.

Offensively, Caitlin Elliott who went 2-3 with a solo home run led Ashe. Elliott had one run, and one RBI off of the long fly! Christenson continued impressive play going 1-2 with a double, two RBIs and also a walk in the victory. Annie Hegar recorded a hit with a double and scored a run for the Huskies.

The Huskies’ record stands at 7-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference following the two games this week. They are off until next week when they travel to North Wilkes on Tuesday evening.