The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady junior softball team poses for a team photo after its road doubleheader on Monday evening at Chase High School. Team members include Jaiden Bame, Janiyah Benjamin, Harper Best, Lyrikah Bristol, Sophia Davis, Finley Duvall, Emma Fish, Paige Hennessee, Ava Hensley, Payton Hunt, Rachel Mace, Presley McCoy, Abigail Roper, Kelly Scales, Desirae Smith, Sophiann Smith, Whitley Strange, Lanie Swink, Lily Thompson, and Serenity Waycaster. The team is coached by Brad Buff (head), Mike Hasson, and Leah Bostian.
Post 21 softball senior squad pitcher Marleigh Carswell winds up for a pitch during a 2025 home game. Carswell on Tuesday earned the complete-game win in Post 21’s season opener at McDowell.
Post 21’s Jolann Buff makes contact at the plate during a 2025 home game. Buff singled, doubled, walked twice, drove in three runs, and scored once during Tuesday’s first game.
The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady junior softball team poses for a team photo after its road doubleheader on Monday evening at Chase High School. Team members include Jaiden Bame, Janiyah Benjamin, Harper Best, Lyrikah Bristol, Sophia Davis, Finley Duvall, Emma Fish, Paige Hennessee, Ava Hensley, Payton Hunt, Rachel Mace, Presley McCoy, Abigail Roper, Kelly Scales, Desirae Smith, Sophiann Smith, Whitley Strange, Lanie Swink, Lily Thompson, and Serenity Waycaster. The team is coached by Brad Buff (head), Mike Hasson, and Leah Bostian.
The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady softball team on Tuesday evening opened the season by splitting a doubleheader with border rival McDowell Post 56 for a second consecutive summer, this time, at McDowell High School in Marion.
Post 21 never trailed in the opener, exploding early for a 6-1 lead en route to a 10-4 victory before it was all McDowell in the nightcap as the hosts collected a 12-0, four-inning win.
Shortstop Kyndal Morrison started the opener with a single and gave Post 21 a 1-0 lead when she scored on a Maddy Hudson RBI groundout.
After McDowell tied the contest, Post 21 (1-1) scored five times in the second thanks to five walks, three hits, and one error, sending 11 batters to the plate, with Hudson’s two-out, two-run single capping the scoring and providing the biggest blow in the half-inning.
Post 21’s Jolann Buff makes contact at the plate during a 2025 home game. Buff singled, doubled, walked twice, drove in three runs, and scored once during Tuesday’s first game.
FILE PHOTOs / THE PAPER
McDowell trimmed the gap to 6-4 before a two-run double to right-center field in the third by catcher Jolann Buff gave the guests some extra breathing room. The inning was kept alive via a key Hayden Carlson sacrifice bunt with two strikes.
Second baseman Kayden Maines’ two-out single in the fourth then plated right fielder Emma Fish (double) and pitcher Marleigh Carswell (single, walk, two runs) to account for the final margin.
Post 21 was led in victory by Morrison (3 for 4, three runs, two SB, RBI), Buff (2 for 2, two walks, three RBIs, run), and Hudson (three RBIs), while Carlson (single), Maines (single, walk), and Kayleigh Woody (single, walk) scored a run apiece. Left fielder Lila Hudson walked twice and added an RBI.
“I’m just proud of them all the way around to open up that way. It was a team effort,” Post 21 coach Mike Hasson said. “We ran the bases well. We executed plays, made the close plays on defense for outs, played station-to-station ball.
“One of the big plays was Hayden getting that bunt down. She seems to focus more when the pressure’s on.”
After the second inning, Carswell (5 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 3 K) retired each of the final nine batters she faced to earn the win from the circle. Post 21 played error-free defense behind her.
Post 21 softball senior squad pitcher Marleigh Carswell winds up for a pitch during a 2025 home game. Carswell on Tuesday earned the complete-game win in Post 21’s season opener at McDowell.
FILE PHOTO / THE PAPER
“Near the beginning, it was a little rough, but as the game went on, we all worked together pretty well as a team, and I felt more comfortable with my pitches,” said Carswell, a Patton 2025 graduate who played collegiately at Montreat this spring.
“I really enjoy (legion ball). There’s not as much pressure, it’s fun, you get to meet new people, girls from around here that I wouldn’t get to play with anymore any other way.”
Hasson added: “Marleigh did a super job. She went the whole way. And I thought we hit the ball great, were able to get one (run) right away there in the first and just went from there.”
Post 21 managed only singles by Buff and Whitley Strange in the second game, while Hudson walked and stole a base.
Freedom 2025 grad Daniell Robinson (3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, K) earned the pitching win for McDowell, while the hosts got major production from third baseman Autumn Edmonds (2 for 3, two doubles, two runs, four RBIs) and left fielder Addison Ray (two-run homer).
Post 21 committed two errors in defeat behind the pitching trio of underclassmen Woody (IP, 0 ER), Harper Best (1 2/3 IP, 3 K), and Strange (1/3 IP, 0 ER). Best’s perfect second inning, which included consecutive strikeouts of McDowell’s Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, highlighted the work of that group.
“We’re young with our pitching,” Hasson said. “Kayleigh (Woody) is going to pitch some for us. And two of our (junior legion players) came up for us tonight to help in that second game. They’re so young, five, six years younger than some of those batters they’re facing, and this is great experience for them which is going to do nothing but help them in the long term. I was really proud of them too. McDowell has some great hitters.
“I think it’s going to be a really fun summer. We have girls from all four high schools (in the county), and they all gel really well together.”
Post 21 next visits Lenoir-Rhyne University to face Hickory Post 48 on June 9.
Jr. legion starts season at 2-2
The Post 21 junior legion softball squad (2-2) took a split both in its season-opening doubleheader on May 28 against Cherryville Post 100 at Cherryville High School and again Monday evening versus Rutherford County Post 423 at Chase High School.
Post 21 lost 8-6 in the opener at Cherryville. After the guests took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Finley Duvall reached on an error, Janiyah Benjamin plated her with a double, and Lily Thompson scored Benjamin via an RBI single, Cherryville immediately answered with six runs in its half of the frame and never trailed again, with a Post 21 four-run rally in the fifth coming up just shy.
Post 21 was led at the plate in defeat by Thompson (three RBIs, SB), Benjamin (two hits, two SBs), and Duvall (two runs), while Fish (double), Ava Hensley (single), and Best (walk, SB) added a run each.
Desirae Smith singled and stole a base, and Post 21 used Paige Hennessee (IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 K) and Best (3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 7 K) from the circle.
Post 21 then served as hosts on the scoreboard and scored in each inning — including hanging a half-dozen runs in the bottom of the third — as it stormed to a 9-0, four-inning win in game two, led by Fish, who homered to left field and walked, driving in three runs.
Strange (4 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K) was nearly perfect in earning the shutout win, and she added a single at the plate.
Other Post 21 offensive standouts were Jaiden Bame (single, two walks, two runs), Sophia Davis (two walks, RBI, run), Hensley (single, RBI, run, SB), Thompson (triple, walk, two runs), Kelly Scales (double, run), Best (single, RBI, run), and Duvall (single, SB).
Post 21 then won 4-0 and lost 10-1 at Rutherford to open this week. In the opener, Sophiann Smith (3 IP, 3 H, 2 K) and Strange (2 IP, H, 3 K) combined for the shutout, while Fish (double, walk, run) and Benjamin (single, walk, RBI, run, two SBs) again paced the offense.
Other Post 21 leaders were Abigail Roper (walk, RBI), Davis (walk, run), Duvall (walk, run), Strange (RBI), and Serenity Waycaster (walk, SB).
Post 21 then trailed just 3-1 until Rutherford (who served as guests on the scoreboard for the second game) scored seven runs in the top of the fifth to pull away.
Best doubled in Strange for Post 21’s only run, while Benjamin added a triple, Thompson singled, and Duvall drew a walk. Best (2 IP, 0 H, 4 BB, 2 ER, 3 K) and Strange (3 IP, 7 ER, 5 K) split time in the circle.
The Post 21 juniors late Friday visited Wilkes County Post 31, with the local club’s home opener set for June 8 at 6 p.m. versus Caldwell County Post 29.
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