Colts lacking effort in loss
BY RYAN LEGER
DISPATCH STAFF
The Colts’ (2-6, 1-4) varsity baseball squad hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference rival Halifax Academy (2-8, 1-3) Thursday evening, suffering an extremely disappointing 16-3 defeat after just five innings of play. Crossroads’ head coach Robin Overby said it was his squad’s worst performance of the season and wasn’t very happy with the effort given by his players.
“Today wasn’t a good performance by any means,” Overby said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this year, struggling behind the plate, in the field, on the mound and at the plate. I’m not sure where the effort was today, but we just didn’t have anything. They hit the ball well so I can’t take anything away from them and their pitcher looked great on the mound.”
After a long absence from the diamond over spring break, the Colts defeated Community Christian 9-7 on Tuesday and Overby thought the win would give his team confidence moving forward. Unfortunately, the victory appeared to have the opposite effect for Crossroads.
“We played really well Tuesday and thought we would come off of that riding a high, but we were just really flat today,” Overby said. “This wasn’t what I wanted or expected today, but hopefully we can have a strong practice tomorrow and put in a good effort against Faith Christian, who’s inst anybody.”number one in our conference, on Monday.”
Austin Bishop started the game on the mound for Crossroads, allowing ten runs over three and a third innings of work. Bishop was actually very strong at times, but just didn’t get any help from his defense as the Colts made numerous errors in the field.
“It wasn’t the pitching, it was the defense,” Overby said. “The defense just wasn’t there today. There was absolutely no effort on the ball. We are a young team and are going to make mistakes, but we have to be better than that.”
Jackson Overby relieved Bishop, but didn’t last long. The right-hander got knocked around for two runs, while only recording one out. Noah Page finished out the contest, surrendering four runs over an inning and a third of work.
The Colts scored two runs in the first inning off Vikings’ pitcher Brandon Moody (5 IP, 3 runs), with Noah Page (1-3) scoring on a pass ball and Brody Steffensen driving in Austin Bishop (2-3) on a sacrifice grounder. Moody settled down after that, cruising through the next two innings before Jackson Overby scored from third on a pass ball in the bottom of the fourth after leading off the inning with a double down the left field line.
Overby is hoping his squad can regroup over the weekend and come back with more effort next week as the Colts face three conference opponents in a row, beginning with a trip to Faith Christian Monday night. Crossroads will then host cross-town rival Kerr-Vance Academy on Tuesday and travel to Oakwood Friday evening.
Bogle said. “Halifax had a few too many chances and ended up converting a few of those in the second half. They possessed the ball for the vast majority of the game and we did a good job creating some offensive chances by counter-attacking, but it just wasn’t enough. We just gave them too many looks at the net.”
After bombarding Peoples with shots for well over 40 minutes, the Vikings’ finally broke the shutout as eighth-grader Whitney George scored midway through the second half. Halifax Academy took control of the game shortly after as sophomore Abby George beat Peoples on a beautiful shot to give the Vikings a 2-0 advantage.
“I would like for us to be able to possess the ball better obviously, but with the girls that we have it just comes natural to play a counter-attack type of game,” Bogle said. “We also only have 12 girls on the team so we have to work with what we have. I would have definitely liked for us to get a few more scoring chances tonight, but they are a great team and showed it.”
Crossroads also suffered a 3-2 loss to Liberty Christian at home Tuesday night, a game they definitely should have won according to Bogle. The Colts’ coach also gave his players credit, saying they did a terrific job bouncing back from that loss and is hoping they can carry some momentum into next week, during which they have three crucial conference matchups.
“I thought they bounced back really well, that was a very disappointing loss. It was definitely the worst game we played all season and maybe even the past few seasons,” Bogle said. “I believe we should’ve won that one for sure, which made it a really tough loss. But the girls came out and played really hard tonight, so I’m really proud of how they responded.”
Crossroads desperately needs a few conference victories and will get the opportunity next week as they face three conference opponents in a row, starting with Faith Christian on Monday. The Colts will then host cross-town rival Kerr-Vance Academy on Tuesday and travel to Oakwood on Friday.
BY RYAN LEGER
DISPATCH STAFF
The Colts’ (2-6, 1-4) varsity baseball squad hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference rival Halifax Academy (2-8, 1-3) Thursday evening, suffering an extremely disappointing 16-3 defeat after just five innings of play. Crossroads’ head coach Robin Overby said it was his squad’s worst performance of the season and wasn’t very happy with the effort given by his players.
“Today wasn’t a good performance by any means,” Overby said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this year, struggling behind the plate, in the field, on the mound and at the plate. I’m not sure where the effort was today, but we just didn’t have anything. They hit the ball well so I can’t take anything away from them and their pitcher looked great on the mound.”
After a long absence from the diamond over spring break, the Colts defeated Community Christian 9-7 on Tuesday and Overby thought the win would give his team confidence moving forward. Unfortunately, the victory appeared to have the opposite effect for Crossroads.
“We played really well Tuesday and thought we would come off of that riding a high, but we were just really flat today,” Overby said. “This wasn’t what I wanted or expected today, but hopefully we can have a strong practice tomorrow and put in a good effort against Faith Christian, who’s inst anybody.”number one in our conference, on Monday.”
Austin Bishop started the game on the mound for Crossroads, allowing ten runs over three and a third innings of work. Bishop was actually very strong at times, but just didn’t get any help from his defense as the Colts made numerous errors in the field.
“It wasn’t the pitching, it was the defense,” Overby said. “The defense just wasn’t there today. There was absolutely no effort on the ball. We are a young team and are going to make mistakes, but we have to be better than that.”
Jackson Overby relieved Bishop, but didn’t last long. The right-hander got knocked around for two runs, while only recording one out. Noah Page finished out the contest, surrendering four runs over an inning and a third of work.
The Colts scored two runs in the first inning off Vikings’ pitcher Brandon Moody (5 IP, 3 runs), with Noah Page (1-3) scoring on a pass ball and Brody Steffensen driving in Austin Bishop (2-3) on a sacrifice grounder. Moody settled down after that, cruising through the next two innings before Jackson Overby scored from third on a pass ball in the bottom of the fourth after leading off the inning with a double down the left field line.
Overby is hoping his squad can regroup over the weekend and come back with more effort next week as the Colts face three conference opponents in a row, beginning with a trip to Faith Christian Monday night. Crossroads will then host cross-town rival Kerr-Vance Academy on Tuesday and travel to Oakwood Friday evening.
Bogle said. “Halifax had a few too many chances and ended up converting a few of those in the second half. They possessed the ball for the vast majority of the game and we did a good job creating some offensive chances by counter-attacking, but it just wasn’t enough. We just gave them too many looks at the net.”
After bombarding Peoples with shots for well over 40 minutes, the Vikings’ finally broke the shutout as eighth-grader Whitney George scored midway through the second half. Halifax Academy took control of the game shortly after as sophomore Abby George beat Peoples on a beautiful shot to give the Vikings a 2-0 advantage.
“I would like for us to be able to possess the ball better obviously, but with the girls that we have it just comes natural to play a counter-attack type of game,” Bogle said. “We also only have 12 girls on the team so we have to work with what we have. I would have definitely liked for us to get a few more scoring chances tonight, but they are a great team and showed it.”
Crossroads also suffered a 3-2 loss to Liberty Christian at home Tuesday night, a game they definitely should have won according to Bogle. The Colts’ coach also gave his players credit, saying they did a terrific job bouncing back from that loss and is hoping they can carry some momentum into next week, during which they have three crucial conference matchups.
“I thought they bounced back really well, that was a very disappointing loss. It was definitely the worst game we played all season and maybe even the past few seasons,” Bogle said. “I believe we should’ve won that one for sure, which made it a really tough loss. But the girls came out and played really hard tonight, so I’m really proud of how they responded.”
Crossroads desperately needs a few conference victories and will get the opportunity next week as they face three conference opponents in a row, starting with Faith Christian on Monday. The Colts will then host cross-town rival Kerr-Vance Academy on Tuesday and travel to Oakwood on Friday.
