Four days after taking a line drive off her throwing arm, Rebecca Thomas bounced back with a masterpiece against Southwest District foe Abingdon. The Carroll pitcher struck out 13 in a two-hit shutout March 24 as the Cavaliers opened the district campaign with a 6-0 road victory over the Falcons.

After Abingdon’s Laura Wilson and Hannah Bays singled to open the game, Thomas struck out Katelyn Stewart, Sabrina Viers and Brittany Totonchian in order to end the inning. The Carroll County ace did not give up another hit the rest of the game as the Cavaliers improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Southwest District. After walking Viers to start the fourth inning, Thomas retired Abingdon’s final 12 batters in order.

Her performance came four days after taking the brunt of a line shot off her throwing arm in a 5-3 loss to Floyd County.

“Rebecca pitched great. The game against Floyd, she got hit hard in the arm and she really couldn’t grip the ball after that,” Carroll County head coach Terry Warf said. “She had a hard time throwing strikes, but she bounced back from that and pitched real well against Abingdon.”

Carroll took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Lillie Kimble reached on a fielder’s choice and scored. Lexi Hodge also singled and later scored on Nicole Hawks’ RBI single to center.

After a scoreless third, the Cavs broke the game open with four runs in the top of the fourth. After Jacqueline Martin and Kimble drew walks to open the inning, Hodge laid down a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Kendra Galyean cleaned things up with a two-run single to left field to push Carroll’s lead to 4-0. Leanna Rippey then walked to load the bases again and Grace Ayers finished the big inning with a two-run single.

Carroll outhit Abingdon 9-2 to supplement Thomas’ outstanding effort on the mound.

“We needed to win there and to do it to open the district against a good team like that should give us some confidence,” Warf said. “We hit the ball well and we played real well defensively.”

Carroll Co. 020 400 0 - 6 9 1

Abingdon 000 000 0 - 0 2 1

Thomas and Hodge (CC). Pruitt and Viers (A). WP - Thomas. LP - Pruitt.

Pulaski Co. 10,

Carroll Co. 1

Miranda Tuell and Kaitlin Smith combined to throw a one-hitter March 23 as Pulaski County rolled to a 10-1 nondistrict victory over visiting Carroll County.

Leanna Rippey had the Cavaliers’ only base hit in the third inning. Despite Carroll’s offensive woes, the Cavs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Lexi Hodge walked, then moved up and scored on a pair of errors.

It was all Pulaski from that point as the Cougars added two runs in the third, highlighted by a Kasey Holcomb double. Errors led to another Cougar run in the fourth and Kari Dunavant put Pulaski ahead 4-1 in the fifth with a solo home run. Pulaski put the game out of reach in the sixth, ripping seven consecutive singles to open the inning en route to six more runs.

Carroll 010 000 0 - 1 1 4

Pulaski 002 116 x - 10 12 3

Martin and Hodge (CC); Tuell, Smith (4) and Dunavant (PC). 2B - Holcomb (PC). HR - Dunavant (PC).