Lady Horns finds positives at Unicoi

Don't tell Johnson County coach Greg Reece there's no such thing as moral victories. The Longhorns hung around with powerful Unicoi County for five innings on Saturday, and that was more important than what eventually became a lopsided final score of 11-0. Johnson County sophomore pitcher Ezzy Barr allowed five earned runs in five innings. Four of those came in one frame. "It was the best game I've seen Ezzy throw," Reece said. "She got out of a bases-loaded jam. We're working on her getting away from striking people out. … Getting those pop-ups is huge." Barr allowed eight hits and three walks to the reigning state tournament team. "Their pitcher threw very well," Unicoi County coach Abby Hensley said. So did the Blue Devils' ace, Lela Byrd. The ETSU commit struck out 17, and depending on which scorebook you use, she pitched a no-hitter or a one-hitter (a bunt by C.J. Lipford). Reece said Byrd was throwing hard. "Byrd is tremendous," Reece said. "In the first inning I wouldn't doubt if she was throwing 65 (mph)." Reece liked his team's fight against the talented Blue Devils. "We held Unicoi to no runs the first two innings and it was 5-0 going into the sixth," he said. "I was very, very proud of our effort." Unfortunately, that was not the case a day earlier when Johnson County traveled to Cloudland as the Longhorns lost 8-0. "I was really disappointed with the Cloudland game," Reece said. "We just did not show up to play. And it was Cloudland's first game on its new field. They were sky high and ready to play. And we were already looking forward to Erwin (Unicoi County), I think. "It's just one of those things. With a young team you're gonna have that. And we hadn't played a game in a week at that point." If Johnson County had played against Unicoi the way it played against Cloudland, the scoreboard might've short-circuited. The Longhorns' encouraging outing against Unicoi County included solid defensive play from center fielder Maddie Bendon and left fielder Alicia Littlewhirlwind. "Maddie covered a lot of ground on one catch," Reece said. "It was in the gap. I don't know how she got to it, but she did. "And Alicia made a couple of good catches. We moved her from right to left, and she made a couple of good plays." Johnson County were scheduled to host Holston on Monday (March 23). The Longhorns will visit Unaka on Thursday and Hancock County on Saturday, and in between, they will host West Greene in Three Rivers Conference doubleheader on Friday. Reece would like to see more of the team that showed up against Unicoi County. "I told the girls, 'You went down there and played them toe to toe for about four innings on their field,'" Reece said. "And we're just gonna take that and try to get better and learn what we can."