Cathedral falls as Nanih Waiya advances

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, May 8, 2013

LOUISVILLE — After several weather delays throughout the series, Cathedral High School finally got its final game in against Nanih Waiya High School Tuesday afternoon.

And after falling behind by four runs after the first inning, the Green Wave were unable to stage a comeback, falling to the Warriors 10-4 in the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A playoffs.

Cathedral fell behind 5-1, and Nanih Waiya limited the Green Wave to three runs the rest of the way while slowly extending its lead.

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“We had a rough first inning, and we were trying to recover the whole game,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. “We thought we played well after that and stayed in the game until the end.

“I was proud of the way we played the whole series. We played toe to toe in three games with the two-time defending state champions, and they only lost a couple of players from last year’s team.”

One of the Warriors’ returning players, starter Colby Eaves, limited Cathedral to four runs on seven hits while striking out 12 and walking five in seven innings of work. The Green Wave had chances to score throughout the game, Beesley said, but were unable to get the timely hits.

“He was able to bear down on us when we had runners on base,” Beesley said. “We just couldn’t get them across. He did the job when he had to. We had a lot of strikeouts with runners in scoring position.”

Thomas Garrity took the loss for Cathedral, pitching six innings and giving up 10 runs — six earned — on 11 hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

Cathedral and Nanih Waiya both scored one run apiece in the third inning to make it 6-2, but the Warriors erupted for four runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach. The Green Wave tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh.

Austin Chauvin and Peyton Jenkins both had doubles for Cathedral, and Hayden Nunnery hit a triple for the Green Wave. Chauvin and Jenkins were both 2-for-4 at the plate.

“I thought we had a good season,” Beesley said. “We started off slow trying to find out our identity, and the seniors really stepped up in the playoffs with good leadership. We came a long way from the beginning of the year, and I’m proud of them.”

Cathedral finished its season 15-10.