PREP BASEBALL: Trinity sweeps key Area doubleheader over Catholic
Catholic’s Pat Ryan tags out Trinity’s Walton Cherry at third during the Wildcats’ win on Monday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Trinity didn’t come out with its best hitting performance, its best pitching performance or its best fielding performance, but the Wildcats did enough to sweep a doubleheader at Catholic on Monday afternoon to assure the Wildcats of a playoff berth.
“That’s the only thing good about it,” Trinity coach Ken Whittle said. “We found a way to do it. We were not as good as we need to be, but when they scored, we answered. You’ve got to give Catholic credit. They hit the ball well.”
The Wildcats committed three errors, left the bases loaded three times and allowed 12 hits in the first game, but took advantage of Catholic mistakes to score eight unearned runs on the way to a 15-6 victory that gave Trinity a commanding 4-0 lead in 3A Area 6 play with area games remaining against Prattville Christian on Thursday and Friday.
Trinity won the second game of the doubleheader -- a tiebreaker in the area standing -- 11-2 to win their seventh consecutive game. More importantly, it gave the Wildcats the tiebreaker over the Knights in case the two teams should finish tied after this weekend’s games.
Catholic and Prattville Christian are 2-2 in area play, while Montgomery Academy is 0-4.
The Knights jumped on Trinity starter Coleman Ellis in the first inning with a one-out infield single by Austin Cleghorn and a double by Dean Johnson that put runners on second and third. But when J.C. Hardigree grounded back to Ellis, he threw home to catcher Grayson Ashe, who tagged out Cleghorn. Ashe then threw toward second base in an effort to catch Hardigree, but took the return throw and tagged out Johnson at the plate for the third out.
“That made a big difference,” Whittle said.
“That hurt,” Catholic coach Tony Hudson said. “They’re a good ballclub. They make very few mistakes and take advantage of mistakes that other teams make.”
Ashe drove in the game’s first run in the third and Walton Cherry added a two-run double and Parker Hughes had an RBI double for a 4-0 lead. But the Knights answered with a run in the third and two more in the fourth to trim the lead to a run.
That was as close as they would get. Ben Easterling led off the fifth with a home run over the left field fence as part of a three-run inning that put the Wildcats back in control and Trinity took advantage of a pair of errors, a pair of hit batters and three walks to score eight runs in the seventh.
William Roberson reached base in all six plate appearances with three singles, two walks and an error, while Easterling reached base in four of five at-bats with two errors and a walk in addition to the homer. Hughes did the same after being hit by a pitch and drawing two walks in addition to the double.
Johnson had a double, a pair of singles and was hit by a pitch for Catholic (14-9), while Justin Rose had a single, reached base on a fielder’s choice and had a two-run double in addition to a flyout.
Ellis struck out four and hit one batter, pitching into the seventh before leadoff singles by Johnson and Hardigree ended his day. Preston Berry got the final three outs for the Wildcats (14-7).