The Hidden Valley-Cave Spring Southwest County rivalry took center stage Thursday afternoon as the teams met in 4 regular season finales that typically precede spring sports tournament play.
Baseball, softball, as well as boys and girls soccer all played out 2 miles apart for bragging rights heading into the summer break.
Cave Spring took three-of-four, with the Knights coming up just short of a dramatic comeback in the fourth.
The Hidden Valley baseball team was looking to rebound from a loss to Patrick Henry earlier in the week with a win at Knights Field. The Titans were well on their way, mounting a 9-1 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh before Cave Spring plated seven runs, with the potential winning run at bat, before Hidden Valley got the final out to escape with the 9-8 win.
“I’m proud of how we kept battling,” Cave Spring head coach Ricky Lonker noted with a huge smile after the contest. “We had the tying run at second and the winner at the plate. I reminded everyone of the comeback Northside hung on us a few years ago when they came back and scored 9 late-inning runs in a regional tournament game on this same field.” Northside used that momentum to eventually go on to win the Group AA state championship.
Hidden Valley had mounted the big lead with timely hitting. Hayes Nelson’s two-run double to deep center gave the Titans a 2-0 lead in the second, and Hidden Valley added five more runs in their half of the fourth when Cam Sine doubled to score two and Nelson plated Sine with a single. After Billy Howe walked, and both he and Nelson pulled off a double-steal to put runners at second and third, Ben Schmidt singled in both to make it 7-1.
The Titans made it 8-1in the fifth after Matt Uttermark doubled and scored on a two-bagger by Sine.
Howe singled in the sixth and later scored on a single by Uttermark to make it 9-1.
To that point, Cave Spring’s only score had come in the third inning when Grant Snyder beat out a slow roller and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice grounder. The Knights, however weren’t finished, combining hits, walks and three Hidden Valley errors to get the tying run one hit away.
“I’m a little disappointed in our finish,” Hidden Valley head coach Jason Taylor said afterward. “A win is a win, and we had the #1 tournament spot wrapped up, but I wanted to get our backup players in the game to get them experience. In tournament play, the backups may be called on at any time. That situation got us a few years ago. Tonight we made three errors in the last inning. You can’t do that against a good team.”
Hidden Valley gets a first round bye in Conference 32 tournament play and will open Wednesday against the Christiansburg-Abingdon winner. Cave Spring hosts Patrick County Monday, May 26th in a first-round matchup.
Two miles across Brambleton Avenue, the Lady Knights made it two wins in four days over Hidden Valley with a commanding 13-0 win in a game shortened to six innings. Cave Spring pitcher Taylor Asimakopoulos picked up her 19th win of the season as the defending state champs improved to 19-1. Kylie Kent had three hits for the Knights, while Morgan Leftwich and Alayna Francis each had a pair of hits for Cave Spring. Hidden Valley was held to three hits, courtesy of Sidney Agee, Madi Cupp and Mary Walters.
In boys soccer, Cave Spring blanked Hidden Valley 5-0 on goals by Trevor Durham, Chase Keister, Zach Shannon, Tyler Bradley and Mason Reyer.
On the girls soccer side, Kelsey Johnson and Morgan Todd scored the game’s only goals as Cave Spring prevailed 2-0.
Bill Turner