Cathedral blanks Mount Olive

Published 12:01 am Saturday, April 30, 2011

Cathedral’s Austin Chauvin tags Mount Olive’s Chravis Taylor during their game at the Chester-Willis Field Friday afternoon in Natchez. (Eric Shelton \ The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — When Cathedral School’s Caleb Upton hit the walkoff single in the bottom of the fifth inning, he nonchalantly made his way to first base.

The Green Wave had no trouble scoring runs against Mount Olive Friday night, so maybe the 10-run-mercy-rule walkoff just wasn’t that exciting.

But Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said his team’s lack of energy was the one concerning part of an otherwise great game for Cathedral after the Green Wave won 10-0.

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“I’m glad we got the win, but I was disappointed in our mental approach,” Beesley said. “We weren’t into the game much. There wasn’t much intensity.”

But there were plenty of hits and plenty of errors by Mount Olive, giving Cathedral a 1-0 lead in a best-of-three series in the second round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

The Green Wave had their way with Mount Olive starter Ruben Duckworth, tallying 11 hits off Duckworth in five innings. The Pirates also chipped in with six errors.

“I felt like we would score runs, but I didn’t know we could get 10 against Duckworth,” Beelsey said. “He’s their best pitcher.”

Cathedral starter Tyler Morrison was superb, going five innings and yielding just one hit and two walks. He also struck out six.

“I thought Tyler did a good job,” Beesley said. “Our defense made plays when (Mount Olive) put it in play, but the spotlight should be on Tyler. He threw strikes and kept the ball down. He was ahead on almost every batter.”

Cathedral jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Kyle Bradley scored on an infield single by Upton and Barrett Young scored on a passed ball.

Levi Brown came in on a single by Thomas Garrity in the second inning to make it 3-0. In the third inning, Collin Hammons and Blake Martin scored on a fielding error by Pirates first baseman Tazman Gray. Later in the inning, Kyle Bradley scored Austin Chauvin on an infield single with the bases loaded.

Cathedral extended its lead to 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth. A runner scored when Rudy Lazarus reached second base on a fielding error, and another run came around on a single by Jake Brown.

The Green Wave finished off Mount Olive in the bottom of the fifth. Bradley scored on a double by Daniel Huffines to set up Upton’s walkoff single that scored Huffines.

Upton was 3-for-4, and Bradley finished 2-for-4. Hammons went 2-for-3.

Cathedral (15-5) will play at 1 p.m. today at Mount Olive.

Cathedral softball 7,

West Lincoln 2

Mollie Devening went seven innings and gave up two runs as the Lady Green Wave came out on top in the first round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

Devening struck out eight and issued no walks for Cathedral. He gave up just seven hits, while Cathedral had 12 hits of its own.

McKenzie Milligan went 3-for-4 for Cathedral. Devening, Beth Fortenbery and Laura Ellett were all 2-for-4.

Cathedral (18-9-1) will host West Lincoln at noon today.