Photos courtesy of Crissy McEntire
By Madison McEntire
HAMBURG — The Bryant 13-year-old All-Star breezed through the first two game of the 2014 State Tournament on Friday and Saturday, clobbering Camden 18-0 and Stuttgart 10-0.
Team members are Logan Grant, Cade Dupree, Jacob Coppock, Logan Chambers, Logan Catton, Will McEntire, Jacob Shepard, Ryan Lessenberry, Brock Bariola, Coby Greiner, Sawyer Holt, and Hunter Mullings. They are managed by Michael Catton with help from Phillip Dupree and Madison McEntire.
Bryant 18, Camden 0
Bryant was the visiting team and jumped out to a quick lead 4-0 lead in the first. Coppock led off with a bunt down the third base line for a single and went to second on Greiner’s sac bunt. An error by the left fielder allowed Chambers to reach base and Coppock to score the game’s first run. After Grant and Dupree were hit to load the bases, wild pitches scored two runs before Shepard singled home Dupree for the third run. After Shepard swiped second, Mullings grounded a ball back through the middle to complete the scoring.
In the third, Bryant added three runs to make the score 7-0. Chambers walked, moved around to third on steal and a wild pitch and scored on Grant’s single to the shortstop. Grant then stole second and eventually came around to score on two wild pitches. With two outs, Mullings was initially called out on a 5-3 ground out to end the inning but the umpires ruled that he had fouled the ball off his foot. Given new life, he doubled on a fly to right and scored when the Camden shortstop misplayed Holt’s grounder.
Chambers was the starting pitcher for Bryant and struck out three in the first two innings, allowing just one base runner on a two-out walk in the second. In the bottom of the third, Chambers got a quick pop out to Catton at second but with a 0-1 count on the next batter, lightning flashed and the umps sent the teams to their dugouts. The rain, which had started the inning before, grew worse and, after a 30 minute delay, the game was postponed until Saturday morning.
When play resumed, Chambers was back on the mound and quickly got a grounder to Greiner at third before allowing his first hit on a dribbler that went up the third base line. Chambers then picked the runner off first to end the inning.
Bryant plated two more in the top of the fourth. McEntire hit for Lessenberry and singled on a pop fly out of the reach of the second baseman. Lessenberry re-entered to run and went to third on wild pitches as Coppock walked. Greiner lined back to the mound and Lessenberry was doubled off third but Chambers lined a double inside the left-field line and Coppock, who had stolen second, scored on the play. Grant then doubled on a long fly to center to make the score 9-0.
Mullings made his All-Star pitching debut in relief of Chambers. After a comebacker to the mound for a quick out, Camden bounced two balls into center to put two on but a pop to short and another grounder back to Mullings ended the threat.
In the top of the fifth, Bryant sent 15 men to the plate and scored nine times to double their score. Greiner, Grant, Shepard and Mullings each had RBI-singles as Bryant benefited from five Camden errors, two walks, two wild pitches and a passed ball.
Mullings ended the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, getting flies to right and center and his first strikeout.
Bryant 10, Stuttgart 0
In the second game, McEntire turned in a dominating pitching performance, using 73 pitches to strike out 13 batters of the 15 recorded outs. He struck out the side in order in both the first and third and walked two. He allowed just two hits, both by the Stuttgart cleanup hitter. The first came to lead off the second on a grounder back up the box but he was immediately thrown out by Coppock as he attempted to steal second.
Stuttgart’s lone scoring threat came in the fourth when they got a one-out walk and, after a strikeout, their cleanup hitter squibbed a grounder to third for an infield hit. Grant fielded the ball and faked the throw to first and then fired to second to catch the lead runner rounding the bag. However, Shepard could not handle the throw and it went into centerfield, allowing the runners to advance to second and third. McEntire kept them off the scoreboard with a swinging strikeout on a 2-2 pitch.
At the plate, Bryant scored in each of its four at-bats. In the first, Coppock led off with a double in the gap to left-center. After Greiner flied to right, Chambers lined hard to short and Stuttgart attempted to double off Coppock at second but the throw went into center. Coppock scrambled to his feet and raced all the way home, beating the throw to the plate. Grant then slapped a single past the shortstop into left field, went to second on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on Dupree’s line drive single to center.
Bryant upped the lead to 5-0 in the second. McEntire led off with a soft liner to right for a single, went to second on a wild pitch and was balked to third. Catton singled on a fly to center to bring him to the plate. Catton then moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on Bariola’s grounder to second. Coppock laced one back up the middle to score Catton and then Greiner and Chambers both singled to fill the sacks. A wild pitch scored Coppock as Grant walked to re-load the bases but Dupree fouled out to the third basemen to end the inning.
Shepard led off the third and was hit by a pitch. After he swiped second, McEntire smoked a liner in left to score him. Holt then reach on an infield single to the first baseman to put two on. Mullings hit for Catton and reached on a throwing error by the second baseman that loaded the bases. Bariola was hit by the first pitch of his at-bat to bring in McEntire. After Coppock popped out foul to the pitcher in front of the Bryant dugout, Lessenberry hit for Greiner and popped up to the pitcher for the second out. A wild pitch brought home Coppock to make the score 8-0 before Chambers flied to center for the third out.
In the fourth, Grant led off with a hard liner to left that was caught for an out. Dupree singled to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. Shepard bounced a single into left where it was mishandled, allowing Dupree to score and Shepard to take second. McEntire flied deep to center for the second out. Holt struck out to end the frame but not before two wild pitches brought Shepard around to score to make the score 10-0.
In Stuttgart’s final at-bat, McEntire fanned the first batter on a pitch in the dirt and he was retired at first when Dupree made a good scoop of Lessenberry’s low throw. The next batter grounded the first pitch to second for the second out. Following a walk, McEntire got the nine-hole hitter swinging to end the game and give Bryant a run-rule win.
