Photos by Rick Nation
LITTLE ROCK — With his team leading 9-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of the winner-take-all final at the MidSouth Regional Tournament, their tickets seemingly all but punched to board the flight to Shelby, N.C., for the Senior American Legion World Series, Bryant Black Sox manager Darren Hurt charged out of the dugout at UALR’s Gary Hogan Field to argue about a close call at first base.
Blake Patterson fires a pitch during game two on Monday. (Photo by Rick Nation)
Alex McKelvy, the Columbia, Tenn. centerfielder, had hit a bouncer to third to open the inning. Bryant’s Brandan Warner fielded it nicely but his throw to Hayden Lessenberry at first sailed on him. Lessenberry did a good job of going up to make the catch. He came down with it as McKelvy got there, apparently in time. The only question seemed to be whether he had come down on the bag or not. Hurt contended that he did but the umpire said he didn’t.
No doubt, there were those who thought at the time, “Why argue so vehemently. Isn’t the score 9-2?”
But Hurt knew that every out was precious, especially with so much on the line, tired arms among his pitchers, and facing a Columbia team that had, earlier in the week, rallied to win after trailing 6-0 with two out in the bottom of the ninth.
But, at that point, few could’ve suspected how precious that out would be.
Hayden Lessenberry stretches for a throw at first as Tennessee’s Peyton Sockwell stretches to reach base. (Photo by Rick Nation)
The play opened the door for a nightmare inning for the Sox in which Columbia scored 10 times to take a 12-9 lead that Bryant couldn’t quite make up. The Black Sox rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth and had the potential tying run at third only to be denied. They then got the lead-off man on in the top of the ninth but came up on the wrong side of another controversial call.
Columbia held on, giving it back-to-back wins over a Bryant team that hadn’t lost back-to-back games all season, hadn’t allowed more than 10 runs in any game much less an inning, and came into the day on a 20-game winning streak.
With the 12-11 victory on the heels of an 8-3 win earlier in the day to force the winner-take-all contest, Columbia captured the Regional title and claimed those airline tickets to the East coast.
It was a stunning end to a remarkable season for Bryant, which finished 46-6. Their other losses coming by scores of 3-0 against Papillion, Neb.; 5-1 to Texarkana; 2-1 to Ronin Bat Company of Dallas; and 3-0 to Batters Box DeMarini of Collierville, Tenn.
“We could not get a break,” said Hurt after the game. “Two calls that didn’t go our way and one of them in a 10-run inning. We tried to throw guys on short rest and they gave us everything they had and they would’ve stayed out there and gutted it out but they just didn’t have anymore in the tank.”
Chase Tucker connects. (Photo by Rick Nation)
The Black Sox committed eight errors in the two games, more than they usually commit in a week or two.
“Maybe pressing a little bit,” Hurt said. “I don’t know. It was unusual. It was out of character for us. Pitching and defense has been there all year even when the bats weren’t.
“It’s just one of those things,” he added. “Sometimes one turns into two, and two turns into five. That’s kind of the way it went.”
After the error, Columbia’s Hayden Holt singled up the middle. Hoping to make a play as McKelvy rounded second, center fielder Chase Tucker charged in but let the ball slip past him. McKelvy scored and Holt wound up at second.
Still, it was just 9-3 and the Sox had one of their aces on the hill in right-hander Blake Patterson who had pitched six shutout innings of relief in an 8-0 win over the Oklahoma Outlaws on Friday. Against Columbia, he had just turned in two scoreless frames going into the fateful seventh.
Bryant second baseman Korey Thompson ranged afar to knock down Jake Usher’s grounder but had no play.
Patterson, however, got clean-up hitter Will Norwood to tap back to the mound for the first out. He was a strike away from retiring Peyton Sockwell when he shot a grounder up the middle that, again, Thompson dove to flag down. But he had no play as Holt scored.
Ryan Helgren’s chopper to short resulted in a force out but it was hit too slowly for the Sox to turn a doubleplay and Usher scored to make it 9-5.
It seemed like every grounder Patterson induced somehow found a hole. Base hits by Konnor Ambrose, William Pinkleton and Cody Owen ensued, producing another run.
Evan Lee turned in four solid innings as the game two starter on Monday. (Photo by Rick Nation)
“Patterson did what he could but we had him on two days’ rest,” Hurt related. “He was gassed. With the heat and playing in the first game then coming out to pitch, he was just gassed.”
Austin Caldwell, who had pitched so effectively on Sunday as he picking up the win against Jefferson City, Mo., relieved Patterson but issued a walk that force in another tally.
Hurt turned to Dalton Holt, who picked up the save on Sunday night, but a wild pitch made it 9-8. Hayden Holt walked to load the bases again then Usher was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run.
Norwood’s grounder up the middle was chased down by shortstop Trevor Ezell but his throw to first was late and errant. Owen and Holt scored the tying run and go-ahead runs and, as the play continued, another errant throw allowed Usher to come home, making it 12-9.
Dalton Holt finally brought the debacle to an end by getting Sockwell to roll out to second.
Trey Breeding started Bryant’s eight-inning rally with a bloop single down the left-field line. He stole second and, with one out, raced home when Ezell cracked a double off the bases of the way in left. Drew Tipton singled him to third then Tucker made it 12-11 with a sacrifice fly.
Tipton, who had tagged and advanced on Tucker’s flyball, was standing at third with the tying run. Lessenberry walked but pinch-hitter Justin Emmerling flew out to center as the Sox stranded Tipton at third.
Tennessee was retired quickly in the bottom of the eighth and, down to their last three outs, the Sox got a lift when Warner smacked his third hit of the game to center, resulting in a pitching change. Dylan Stewart became the fourth Tennessee pitcher.
Drew Tipton hauls down a flyball to left. (Photo by Rick Nation)
On the new hurler’s first pitch, Holt cracked a two-hopper to Helgren at third. He fired to second in hopes of getting a doupleplay but his throw was low and Sockwell had to reach down to his right to make an attempt to catch the ball. That, by itself, undermined the doubleplay potential.
But, as it turned out, the ball came loose and went to the turf as Warner slid in. The umpire, however, ruled that the ball came out as he exchanged it from his glove to his throwing hand.
Hurt, feeling the ball had come out before Sockwell reached into the glove for it, came out to ask for the umpire to consult with the other infield umpires about the play. But, when they were through, the decision stood.
Hurt returned to argue with the second-base umpire, unleashing his frustrations. He was promptly thrown out of the game.
Stewart went on to retire the next two batters, closing out his team’s win.
“It was a great season,” Hurt acknowledged. I really thought this group was going (to the World Series) though. When we came out the way we did in the second game, once we got that lead, I didn’t think there was any way. We had too much momentum. But we just could not get out of that inning.”
Lefty Evan Lee started the game on a pitch count and turned in four good innings, allowing two first-inning runs and nothing more.
Lefty David Looney, much the way southpaw Jace Brewer had in the first game, shackled the Sox early. In the second, Lessenberry led off with a single. Patterson wound up striking out on a pitch he insisted had hit him. Warner was then robbed of an extra base hit by Owen in left.
But Bryant broke through in the third, scoring five times to take the lead. Thompson started things with a one-out walk. Ezell stroked a double to right-center and, though Thompson held at third, he scored moments later on a wild pitch. And when Norwood, the Tennessee catcher, made an errant throw to Looney covering the plate, Ezell sprinted in with the tying run.
Bryant third baseman Brandan Warner tags out Columbia, Tenn., base-runner Hayden Holt during the third inning of Monday’s second game. (Photo by Rick Nation)
With two down, Tucker got things revved up again with a double down the left-field line. Lessenberry walked and Patterson came through with an RBI single. Warner singled in Lessenberry to make it 4-2. Patterson scored when Warner left first early on a steal attempt and got into a rundown.
Lee worked around a lead-off single in the home third then got through the fourth despite and single by Helgren and a walk to Pilkinton.
The lefty’s pitch count had been 40 when he started against Oklahoma on Friday. He was extended to 80 on Sunday before Patterson took over and retired the side in order in the fifth.
The Sox added to their lead in the sixth. Warner cracked a single to center and, on a hit and run, Dalton Holt grounded into the vacated spot at second. Though Sockwell was able to get back to stop with a dive, there was no play.
Dalton Holt (Photo by Rick Nation)
Breeding, up to sacrifice, got a bunt down and when pitcher Carter Bair threw the ball down the right-field line, Warner scored and Holt wound up at third. Breeding advanced to second on the play.
Thompson got a squeeze bunt down for an RBI then Ezell lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 8-2.
After Patterson pitched around a pair of singles in the bottom of the frame, the Sox tacked on one more when Patterson singled, raced to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a passed ball.
It looked like Columbia was falling apart only to get it together for the game-turning 10-run uprising.
In the first game, Tennessee banged out 17 hits on the way to victory. Bryant ace Nate Rutherford came back on three days’ rest to start the game. He was impressive in an easy first.
In the second, a pair of one-out singles, a walk and a hit batsman produced the game’s first run. With the sacks loaded, Rutherford fanned Pilkinton and appeared to be out of the inning when McKelvy hit a high pop into shallow center that Ezell went out for. But he staggered a bit and the ball fell. Two runs scored to make it 3-0.
Bryant got one of those back in the third when Ezell ripped his second double of the game, went to third on Tipton’s grounder to second then scored on Tucker’s bunt single.
Walks to Lessenberry and Patterson loaded the bases but Brewer escaped further damage at Warner bounced to third.
Columbia answered in the top of the fourth. With two down, McKelvy singled, stole second and scored on a two-strike single up the middle by Hayden Holt.
Three singles, a pair of them with two out, produced another Tennessee run in the fifth, as the lead grew to 5-1. Single runs were tacked on in the seventh, eighth and ninth to make it 8-1.
Bryant made some noise in the bottom of the ninth and it may have helped create the fast start in the second game. Ezell was hit by a pitch, Tipton doubled and Lessenberry delivered a sacrifice fly. A two-out error allowed Patterson to reach as Tipton scored. Warner singled but Brewer finished out his 141-pitch complete game by getting Dalton Holt to fly to right.
