Grafton’s baseball and softball teams are headed to next week’s 4A South Regional tournament after knocking off Smithfield in Thursday’s Conference 19 semifinals. Details on both games are below.
Gray Harris and P.J. Jackson combined to pitch a two-hit shutout as Grafton’s baseball team defeated Smithfield 8-0 in Thursday’s 4A Conference 19 semifinals held at Grafton High.
Harris pitched the first three innings and gave up one hit while striking out three before handing the ball to Jackson, who tossed the final four scoreless innings to preserve the shutout.
Ricks Dearing, Spencer Brown and Harris each collected a pair of hits at the plate for the Clippers, who took care of most of their offense during the first two innings when they combined to score seven runs.
Dearing doubled and scored twice, while Brown also scored two runs and drove in a pair.
Grafton will host the winner of Tabb-Jamestown in Friday’s conference championship at 4:30 p.m.
Grafton 8 Smithfield 0
Smithfield- 000;000;0 – 0 2
Grafton- 430;100;x – 8 10
WP: Harris
LP: Weaver
Grafton- Brown 2-3 (2 runs, 2 RBI), Dearing 2-3 (2 2B, 2 runs, RBI), Harris 2-3 (RBI)
Grafton Softball Solves Gay, Beats Smithfield 6-2
Grafton’s softball team put six runs on the board against reigning Bay Rivers District Pitcher of the Year Sydney Gay as the Clippers defeated Smithfield 6-2 in the 4A Conference 19 semifinals Thursday.
Hannah Olson, the reigning district Player of the Year, got the offense started in the first inning with a lead-off double. She and Emily Beyer would both later score on Jessi Sprouse’s sacrifice fly that drew an errant throw to home plate.
Smithfield would get one run back before Grafton erupted for four runs in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 lead.
Aly Deaver worked Gay deep into the count to draw a lead-off walk before Olson belted a two-run home run over the fence to make the score 4-1. Beyer followed with a one-hopper over the fence as the Clippers’ bats continued to have their way against Gay before putting two more runs across to make it 6-1.
Grafton freshman pitcher Kaylee Cox, who tossed all seven innings, has now twice defeated Smithfield this season.
The win clinches a regional-tournament berth for the Clippers, who will first travel to play Powhatan in the conference final at 5 p.m. Friday.
