Cave Spring softball beats defending champ Woodgrove 9-3 to win first state title 

RADFORD — The Cave Spring softball team added another trophy to its collection Sunday.

This prize was the one it wanted the most.

Cave Spring won a state softball title for the first time, ousting defending champ Woodgrove 9-3 in the Group AA final at Radford University.

The excited Knights surrounded pitcher Taylor Asimakopoulos, who threw a five-hitter, at game’s end. The players jumped, threw their gloves in the air and hugged each other.

“We’re over the moon,” sophomore catcher Pami White said later.

It was the 18th straight win for Cave Spring (24-4), which had already claimed the River Ridge District regular-season title, the district tournament and the Region IV tournament this year.

“We got every single trophy there was to get!” second baseman Alayna Francis gleefully told a teammate during the awards presentation.

This latest trophy had always eluded Cave Spring, which has been playing varsity softball since the mid-1980s.

Not this time.

“We did the sweep,” Francis, a sophomore, said later of this year’s four titles. “Cave Spring’s never done it before. It’s an amazing feeling. It took a lot of hard work.”

Fuzzy Minnix, who served as the program’s first coach, attended Sunday’s game.

Woodgrove (26-3) was in the state final for the third straight year. Cave Spring had never been in a state final before, either in Group AA or in its former incarnation as a Group AAA program.

“We wanted to prove ourselves,” White said.

“I’m not going to lie, I was nervous,” said Asimakopoulos, a junior.

But the Knights, who banged out 11 hits against four Woodgrove pitchers, took the lead in the third inning and never relinquished it.

“It doesn’t feel real yet,” White said. “I feel like I’m going to wake up and it wouldn’t have happened.”

Francis had three hits and scored three runs. Asimakopoulos had two hits and two RBIs. White had a pair of RBI singles.

Coach Nick Sharp was in his first season as the varsity coach, but he had coached all of this team’s members previously in rec ball, travel ball and/or with the JV.

“I’m so happy for these kids,” he said. “They’re such a great group.”

“He really pushes us to our limits,” said Francis, who has played for Sharp since she was in the third grade. “He’s a wonderful coach.”

Cortney Cooper, one of the team’s three senior starters, lifted a bucket of water to douse Sharp after the game. But the task proved too hard for just one person and several players got wet as well.

“Water’s heavy,” Cooper said with a laugh.

After throwing a two-hitter in Saturday’s semifinal win, Asimakopoulos (23-3) yielded just five hits Sunday. She did walk seven, though. She struck out none.

She pitched out of a number of jams and got help from her defense, including some nice catches by left fielder Abby Beatty. Woodgrove stranded 11 runners on base, including eight on second or third.

“She’s the horse,” Sharp said of Asimakopoulos. “You’ve got a horse, you ride them. … You let them work out of it.”

The Knights grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the third. Kylie Kent had a two-RBI double and White had an RBI single.

Madi Billings had an RBI single in the top of the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1.

The Wolverines scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Meghan Roush flied out with runners on second and third to end the inning.

Cave Spring answered with four runs in the sixth to build an 8-3 cushion. Beatty, Asimakopoulos and Cooper each had an RBI double, and White added an RBI single.

“We have great hitters, 1 through 9,” Beatty said.

Floyd County also won a state title Sunday. This was the fourth straight year that Timesland produced at least one state softball champ, and the second time in that span that it produced two in one year.

“Soak it in,” Asimakopoulos advised a teammate after the game.

Cave Spring 003 014 1 — 9 11 2

Woodgrove 001 020 0 — 3 5 1

Asimakopoulos and White; Rohrer, Vennitti (4), Kilgour (6), L. Harris (7) and R. Harris. W— Asimakopoulos (23-3). L— Rohrer.

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