WILLIAMSTON — After getting off to a sluggish start defensively, the Roanoke Valley U14 All-Star girls fought back with their bats to pull out an, 11-7, win against Wayne County.

Roanoke Valley U12 All-Stars pitcher Ryanne Hilliard and her teammates were eliminated from the state tournament Thursday in Williamston. The U12s finished No. 8 in the state. The U10s were also eliminated, while the U16s and U14s advanced. Randy Wrenn | Daily Herald Advertisement

“I think that having the early game might have had something to do with how sluggish they were defensively,” said Roanoke Valley Head coach Bill Ewers. Wayne County jumped out to a 4-0 lead, however, the Valley squad fought back with their bats and scored six runs in the same inning which broke the game lose for them. “I think this was a wake up call for them, we knew that this was a good team, but we knew that if we played our game we could come out on top,” Ewers added. The Roanoke Valley All-Stars will face Pamalico in the early game today.

U10s

WILLIAMSTON — The U10 All-Star girls squad rebounded from their first game loss with a 13-1 victory against Williamston on Thursday in the losers bracket. The girls from Williamston never really stood a chance when the Roanoke Valley squad took out their frustrations of a 14-11 loss on Wednesday night to Down-East.

“We are working our way back through now,” said Coach Bobby Martin.

Hunter Martin started on the mound for the first three innings and only gave up one run. Teammate Brooke McClenny shut the batters of Williamston down as she closed things out for her squad. Martin and McClenny were as hot at the plate as they were on the mound, when Martin got base hits that resulted in scoring runs, as did McClenny. Emma Mckeel joined in the scoring process with several base hits and scoring a run. Drew Rose added to the cause with a single. The U10s fell to Chatham County, 9-5, in their second game of the evening, eliminating them from the tournament. “It was hard faught, back and forth,” Head coach Bobby Martin said.” McClenny and Martin pitched for the U10 squad. Lauren Oliver and McClenny led the U10s at the plate. “Every girl on this team has a heart like a lion,” Martin said. “We just fell a little short.” The team finished 8th in Eastern North Carolina.

U12s

WILLIAMSTON — The Roanoke Valley U12 All-Stars quest for a state title came to a crashing end Thursday after suffering two loses in the losers bracket. After a convincing win in the opening round the girls fell to New Bern, 3-1, in their first game of the day. With a chance to still stay alive the Roanoke Valley squad was eliminated in the night game, falling to Henderson-Vance, 11-0. “We saw some good pitching (versus New Bern),” Head coach Sam Conner said. “We played good defense, but they played good defense also.” Allison Ruble scored the only run of the game for the Roanoke Valley team. In the elimination game versus Henderson-Vance, Conner said his girls just couldn’t get it going at the plate. “Our bats were struggling.”

After dominating the district, the Roanoke Valley squad got a taste of their own medicine in the state tournament. “This group of girls took the district with ease,” Conner said. “And that’s the mentality they had coming into the states, that they were going to take it with ease. At this stage the competition steps up. It was nothing our girls did wrong, the other teams just did a lot more right.” The U12s finished eighth in the state.

U16s

WILLIAMSTON — The Roanoke Valley U16 squad got back on the winning track last night, defeating Newport by a score of 7-2. Bailey Robinson pitched the entire game for the Roanoke Valley squad, striking out 13 batters. Robinson had a no hitter going up into the sixth inning. Courtney Strickland had two hits for the Roanoke Valley squad and Kallie Smith hit two doubles. “The difference in the game was we only had two strikeouts today,” Head coach Billy Smith said. “We put the ball in play. We hit up and down the line-up and everybody got a chance to play, that was our intent going into the game.” The Roanoke Valley squad will return to action Saturday at noon and will take on Henderson-Vance in a rematch from the first round.