The Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion manager Tyler Brown and his assistant coaches are learning more and more about their 2016 team every time they play. On Monday, they learned they’ve got a team with enough grit to keep battling as they nearly overcame a 10-run innings by Cabot Centennial Bank. Another thing they learned was that Logan Catton does a pretty good job on the mound.
The Sox had a 7-3 lead after two innings but a nightmare third frame turned it into a 13-7 deficit. But with Catton coming on as the third Bryant pitcher of the game and shutting out the Bankers over the final four innings, the Sox started the whittle and, going into the bottom of the seventh were within 13-12.
In the seventh, Brooks Ellis singled with two down to put the potential tying run on base. A balk by Cabot’s third pitcher Coy Lovercheck advanced him into scoring position then Brandon Hoover’s ground to short was booted. Ellis had to stop at third and Clift Chaffin came on to pinch-run for Hoover at first. Brown obviously had designs on getting Chaffin to steal second to put the potential winning run in scoring position.
That brought up Catton, who had already smacked a pair of hits including a double in the sixth. He’d been on base three times. He contacted Lovercheck’s first pitch and hit a sharp grounder to the right side only to have Cabot’s Caleb Harpole make a nice play to his left to frustrate Catton and the Sox, sealing the Bankers’ 13-12 win.
The loss dropped the Junior Sox to 2-3 on the season going into a showcase tournament to be held at UALR on Friday (at 1:15 and 3:30 p.m.) and Sunday (at 1:30 p.m.) and Conway High School on Saturday (at 10 a.m.).
Along with Catton, C.J. Wallace had two hits for the Sox who benefited from six walks, three hit batsmen and four Cabot errors.
Wallace started on the mound and worked around a two-out walk in the first. Bryant grabbed a 1-0 lead in the home half thanks to the hustle of Konnor Clontz. He walked to start the inning and took second on Logan Chambers’ sacrifice. Ellis drew a free pass then, with Clontz running to try to steal third, Hoover hit a grounder to short. Cabot got the force at second but took too long to get the relay to first in time as Hoover reached. Clontz never slowed down, rounded third and scored.
Cabot used two walks and an error to load the bases in the second. A wild pitch allowed a run to score but Wallace fanned the next two and appeared to be out of the inning when lead-off man Brian Tillery lifted a fly to the outfield. But the ball was misplayed and two more scored to put Cabot up 3-1.
The Sox answered with a six-run second in which all of the runs scored after two were out. Ryan Taylor and Sawyer Holt were each hit by deliveries from Cabot pitcher Jacob Caswell. Clontz walked after fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches. A four-pitch walk to Chambers forced in a run then Chaffin, the courtesy runner for Holt, dashed home on a wild pitch.
So, it was 3-3 and neither team had managed a hit. The first one came at that moment, however. Hoover belted a drive to right-center, clearing the bases with a double.
After a pitching change, Catton reached on an error then Wallace lashed a double down the left-field line to make it 7-3.
After a Sox pitching change, Cabot’s first hit, a single up the middle by Logan Edmondson, started things off in the top of the third. It was a rugged inning with two walks and two hit batsmen and an error to go with six singles including two by Eugene Germer.
Jack Broyles, who had finished the second on the mound for the Bankers, worked a 1-2-3 third. But, for Bryant, Catton came on and did the same in the top of the fourth.
The Sox got to Broyles in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four times to cut the margin to 13-11. An error allowing Chambers to reach base started the outbreak. Ellis reached on another miscue and a wild pitch put runners at second and third. Hoover drew a walk to load the sacks for Catton, who beat out an infield hit to plate Chambers. Ellis followed home on a wild pitch.
Wallace was plunked by a pitch to fill the bases again. Taylor picked up an RBI when he grounded into a force at second and beat the relay to first. Cade Dupree’s infield hit got Catton home to cap the inning.
Taylor reached third when Holt grounded into a force but was stranded.
In the fifth, Catton worked around a pair of hits to keep it a two-run game. In turn, Lovercheck set down the Sox in order in the home half.
Catton pitched around a one-out walk in the top of the sixth. In the home half, he laced his double to right. He had to hold there, however, when Wallace blooped a single to left. But a passed ball moved them to second and third with Wallace representing the potential tying run.
Taylor bounced out to first and Catton hustled home to make it 13-12. With two down, Holt made a bid to drive in the tying tally but he was robbed on a leaping catch of his line drove by Harpole at second.
The first two Cabot batters reached base in the top of the seventh. A wild pitch put runners at second and third. But he fanned Harpole. Germer hit a grounder to Ellis at third and he caught the lead runner, Broyles, in a rundown with catcher Ryan Lessenberry making the tag as the trail runner, Edmondson advanced to third. Germer stole second but Catton struck out Blake Buffalo to end the threat.
Lovercheck set down the first two Sox batters in the home half before Ellis gave his team a chance when he swatted a single to right.
