Knights stay unbeaten

BUCKINGHAM — Despite winter-like conditions and a comeback attempt by a pesky bunch from Appomattox County, Buckingham County remained undefeated on the season with a 4-2 victory on Monday.
Originally slated as a double header, dark skies and the threat of rain helped make the decision to just play one game, and Buckingham had the game in hand with a 4-0 lead heading into the final inning.
Buckingham sophomore ace pitcher Javannah Taylor threw six scoreless innings. Then Libby Morris relieved her, but struggled, walking the leadoff batter. Then a routine double play ball was dropped at second base with no one out. Appomattox drove in both runners on the next at-bat, prompting Lady Knights head coach Randy Christian to bring Taylor back to the mound to try to finish the Raiders off.
Taylor had an minuscule 0.26 ERA coming into Monday’s game along with 98 strikeouts in just over 40 innings, and had only given up two runs all season. Not to be outdone, Morris had not given up a single run until Monday’s seventh inning. After fanning nine batters in the first six innings, Taylor sat down two more in the seventh and helped the Knights escape with the win.
“Taylor has been my leading pitcher for the last two years,” said Christian. “Libby’s control wasn’t what we needed it to be, and I didn’t want to get back to the top of the order, I wanted to give [Taylor] a chance to get out of it when she did, so that’s why I brought her back as quick as I did.”
Malika Davis was 2 for 4 on the afternoon with a double, a run scored and an RBI, while Nikkia Davis also drove in a run. Taylor, Lisa Lee, Jessica Shumaker and Leslie Christian each got key hits in the victory for Buckingham, who claimed the James River District crown for the fourth straight season.
Christian was glad to face a tough team from the Dogwood District at this point in the season, as the regional tournament will likely match them up with the No. 2 seed from that league.
“The Dogwood District overall has tougher teams,” he said. “I’m not saying that every team is tougher than who we play, but you take Gretna, Appomattox, Altavista and William Campbell, who won the state last year, all four of those teams are pretty solid, so it’s going to be tough.”
The Knights will host a district semifinal game next Tuesday, and when asked how far he thinks his team can go, Christian chose not to look ahead.
“We’ll take it one game at a time. When you get into the playoffs, it doesn’t matter what your record is,” said Christian. “When you go into the districts, it doesn’t make a difference. Everyone’s got a target on them, because if you’re not any good, you aren’t going to be there.”