AA Sox use Thursday’s winning formula again on Friday
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For the second night in a row, the Sport Shop Black Sox AA American Legion team of Bryant, snapped a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth and right-hander C.J. Phillips came on to earn a save by pitching a scoreless seventh.
Phillips, who hadn’t pitched since last summer, was pressed into duty on Thursday protecting the Sox’ 2-1 lead over Cabot White. He struck out the side. This time, it wasn’t as easy, though the inning started the same. He fanned Morrilton’s Caleb Canady but lead-off hitter Bubba Stidham cracked an humpback liner to right for a single. And when John Cheek beat out a bouncer into the hole at short, it put the potential tying runs on base with the heart of the batting order coming up.
On Phillips’ first pitch to Reggie Toney, however, a two-hopper was hit to second baseman Bailey Bowers who flipped to shortstop Dakota Besancon for the second out. Besancon relayed to Caleb Chaffin at first in plenty of time for a game-ending doubleplay.
Besancon with relief help from Justin Emmerling dueled Morrilton’s Luke Zimmerman over the first five innings. Bryant picked up an unearned run in the first and Morrilton got one in the third.
On Thursday, Sport Shop was frustrated by soft-tossing right-hander Ethan Smith of Cabot. On Friday, they faced more of a power pitching in Zimmerman who didn’t allow a hit until the fourth.
In the sixth, Weston Jones worked a lead-off walk and Emmerling ripped a double to left-center. Jones sprinted all the way around to score, snapping the 1-1 tie. Emmerling then stole third and drew a wild throw, which allowed him to score to make it 3-1.
The Sox threatened to get more when Chaffin and Bradley Plunkett stroked two-out singles but Morrilton reliever Austin Bell ended the inning with a strikeout.
“(Thursday), we came out a little lax, a little laidback,” noted Sox manager Hunter Mayall. “We weren’t as intense as we needed to be. We were a little less focused than was needed. But we ended up coming out with a win.
“I challenged them last night after the game to come back today with more intensity and more of a will to win,” he added. “And they did that. They came out and played great. We had a couple of letdowns on defense but, besides that, it was a well-played game. They fought and they did what it takes to win. I was proud of them.
“The pitching was good too,” Mayall mentioned. “C.J.’s done a great job the last two nights.”
Morrilton only managed four hits in the game. Cheek singled in the first but Besancon worked around it. In the second, J.W. Mackey reached on an error and, after Besancon fanned the next two, Zimmerman beat out a slow roller to short for an infield hit. But, on a nice play by Jones at third, the Sox kept the visitors blanked.
Bryant had scored in the first when Besancon walked and sprinted to third on Zimmerman’s errant pickoff throw. Nick Kehrees got a bunt down on the safety squeeze to pick up the RBI.
After a two-out walk to Jones, Zimmerman retired nine in a row before Emmerling and Bowers cracked two-out singles in the fourth. But Zimmerman left them stranded with a strikeout.
Morrilton’s run was scored by Cheek who walked with one out in the third. He stole second and scored on a two-out throwing error on an infield grounder by Jace Hill.
Besancon issued a pair of walks in the fourth but, between them, Phillips, the catcher at the time, threw out Bell trying to steal. A two-out error put Peyton Mayo in scoring position but Phillips ranged far up the first-base line to catch a foul pop off Stidham’s bat to end the threat.
In the top of the fifth, Emmerling relieved and issued a lead-off walk. Moments later, however, he induced a doubleplay ball out of Toney and fanned Hill to end the frame.
In turn, Zimmerman walked Zach Graddy and hit Besancon with a pitch but wriggled off the hook when Mayo, his second baseman, robbed Phillips of a two-out RBI hit, spearing his line drive.
An error gave Morrilton a chance to take the lead in the top of the sixth. Mackey stole second and advanced to third on a tap back to Emmerling. Zimmerman had a chance at the RBI but Emmerling struck him out to set up the Sox’ game-winning rally in the home half.
Now 5-4 on the season, Sport Shop is off until hosting Hot Springs Village on Tuesday, June 17.
BRYANT SPORT SHOP 3, MORRILTON 1
Morrilton ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
Stidham, cf 4 0 1 0 Besancon, p-ss 2 1 0 0
Cheek, rf 2 1 2 0 Kehrees, ss-3b 2 0 0 1
Toney, 3b 4 0 0 0 Phillips, c-2b-p 3 0 0 0
Hill, 1b 3 0 0 0 Jones, 3b-cf-rf 1 1 0 0
Mackey, lf 3 0 0 0 Emmerling, cf-p 3 1 2 1
Bell, ss-p 2 0 0 0 Bowers, 2b-rf 3 0 1 0
Mayo, 2b 2 0 0 0 Chaffin, 1b 3 0 1 0
Zimmerman, p-ss 3 0 1 0 Plunkett, lf 3 0 1 0
Canady, c 3 0 0 0 Shropshire, rf 1 0 0 0
Graddy, c 1 0 0 0
Totals 26 1 4 0 Totals 22 3 5 2
Morrilton 001 000 0 — 1
Sport Shop 100 002 x — 3
E—Zimmerman, Kehrees, Jones, Besancon 2, Canady. DP—Bryant 2. LOB—Morrilton 8, Bryant 7. 2B—Emmerling. SB—Cheek, Mackey. S—Kehrees.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Morrilton
Zimmerman (L) 5 3 2 3 4 7
Bell 1 0 0 2 0 1
Bryant
Besancon 4 1 0 2 3 4
Emmerling (W) 2 0 0 0 1 3
Phillips (Save) 1 0 0 2 0 1
Balk—Besancon. HBP—Besancon (by Zimmerman). WP—Zimmerman.
