Wave defeat Dogs
Published 1:24 am Wednesday, April 9, 2008
BUDE — Two area teams that went undefeated in their respective regions met each other Tuesday afternoon when Region 8-1A champion Cathedral battled Region 7-3A champion Franklin County.
With Cathedral’s Preston Edwards on the mound, Franklin County had a hard time putting the ball in play and getting runs on the scoreboard. The result was a 7-4 win by the Green Wave over the Bulldogs Tuesday afternoon.
“Preston had an outstanding game on the mound tonight,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. “We made some errors in the last inning that gave them three runs. But other than that, I thought Preston was in control.”
Cathedral (17-2) jumped on starting and losing pitcher Colton Laird right out of the gate with three runs. Franklin County (17-4) scored one run in the bottom of the first, but could not come any closer the rest of the game.
The Green Wave plated four runs in the top of the fourth inning that essentially put the game away. The Bulldogs tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough.
“We’ve been swinging the ball well the last two weeks, so I hope that continues into the playoffs,” Beesley said. “We’ve got one game left at North Pike (Saturday) before the playoffs begin. I hope our bats stay as hot as they are right now.”
Cathedral had 10 hits in the game and was led by Braxton Fondren, who went 3-for-3, and Caleb Johnson, who was 2-for-4 with a double. Ryne Tutor was 2-for-4 with a double to lead Franklin County.
WCCA 5, Tallulah Academy 0
WOODVILLE — WCCA had just one hit, but it used the small-ball strategy to score three of its five runs in a win over Tallulah Academy Tuesday night in an MPSA District 6-A sub-district game.
With the win, WCCA improved to 7-1 to clinch the No. 1 seed on its side of District 6-A for next week’s district tournament. As for where that will take place, that won’t be known until later today. Tallulah Academy fell to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in sub-district play.
In the bottom of the third inning, Cory Havard laid down a squeeze bunt that brought in Trumaine Norwood for the Rams’ first run of the game. Brandon Simon then delivered with a two-run single to give them a 3-0 lead.
That was plenty of run support for Sutton Olive, who gave up just three hits and struck out six in a seven innings in picking up the win.
“Landren is a good pitcher. He’s been clocked in the mid-80s,” WCCA head coach Ray Olive said about Tallulah Academy’s starting and losing pitcher. “We successfully did the squeeze play. It was a pitcher’s duel.”
Landren struck out seven batters, but as coach Olive pointed out, the bunts got to him.
In the bottom of the sixth, Norwood, running for Brennan Bush scored on a squeeze bunt by Hayden Whetstone and George Davis came in on a bunt by Hayden Holden.
“This was a big win for us, but it was a team effort,” Olive said. “I was very proud of my team playing defensively and a tremendous job doing their job with the bunt.”
Monterey 6, Forest 5 (10 innings)
MONTEREY, La. — In what head coach Eric Richard called the gutsiest performance he’s seen in his 14 years of coaching, Jared Ensminger struck out 12 batters as Monterey rallied to defeat Forest Tuesday afternoon.
With the win, the Wolves improved to 4-1 in District 3-B and moved into a first-place tie with the Bulldogs in the district standings. Both teams have one game to go in district play this week, but Monterey (8-10) has the tougher opponent of the two.
“Forest has Epps which is extremely weak. We play at Kilbourne, which is a solid ball club. We have to take care of business,” Richard said.
With runners at second and third and nobody out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Hunter Matthews threw a passed ball that allowed Brian Calkins to score the game-winning run.
But Monterey wouldn’t have had the opportunity to even send the game into extra innings without the performance of Ensminger, who pitched all 10 innings. Ensminger allowed just six hits and walked five.
“He pitched well the whole game. One inning they put it in play pretty hard. We made an error and they got a base hit or two,” Richard said. “He had good command of his pitches. He bunched the walks together. In the 3-2 win over Kilbourne in extra innings, he went the distance.”
After Monterey scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, Forest responded with four runs of its own in the top of the second and then added another run an inning later to make it a 5-1 game.
But in the bottom of the third inning, the Wolves rallied behind back-to-back singles by Austin Lipsey, who went 2-for-5, and Ross Lipsey as well as a two-run single by Jon Lipsey to tie the game at 5-5. Neither team scored again until the bottom of the 10th.
Hunter Matthews pitched three-plus innings in taking the loss for Forest. Logan Pippen and Conner Matthews each had a double.
Centreville 7, Amite School Center 2
CENTREVILLE — Kyle Brown helped Centreville overcome four errors as the Tigers picked up a big win in MPSA District 5-AA by defeating the Rebels Tuesday afternoon.
Brown went the distance in picking up the win for Centreville (4-14, 4-4). He gave up just five hits and pitched shutout ball for five innings before Amite School Center scored its only two runs off him in the top of the sixth inning.
Centreville had a hard time getting its offense going against Wells, who allowed just one run in the first four innings. But it was the bottom of the fifth when the home team took control as the Tigers scored five runs to take a 6-0 lead. After ASC cut the lead to 6-2 in the top of the sixth, Centreville got one of those runs back in the home half of the sixth.
Brown then pitched a scoreless seventh inning to close out the Rebels.
At the plate, Brown went 2-for-4 with a triple. Colby Lockwood had a double and Brad Jelks went 2-for-3. Wells, the losing pitcher for the Rebels, went 2-for-3.
Huntington 3, Riverdale 1
FERRIDAY — Led by the pitching and hitting of Josh Lee, Huntington held on to defeat Riverdale Tuesday afternoon to improve to 9-13 on the season.
Lee went the distance, allowing one run on five hits. He also went 2-for-3 and had one of Huntington’s three doubles. Landon Willard and Roger Merrill also had a double for the Hounds.
Huntington scored one run each in the bottom of the second, third and fifth innings. The Hounds scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the third inning.