Everett Sox outlast Sheridan in State winners’ bracket final
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NORTH LITTLE ROCK — A scoreless game through five innings, the Everett Black Sox of Bryant and the Sheridan Yellowjackets each eked out a run in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s winners’ bracket final at the Junior American Legion State Tournament at Burns Park’s DeJanis Memorial Field at Vince DeSalvo Stadium.
It went to the eighth deadlocked but the Sox scored three times in the top of the inning and lefty Beaux Bonvillain finished up an impressive stretch of a relief in the bottom of the eighth. The 4-1 win guaranteed a berth in the championship round of the tournament for the Sox, who won the Junior State title last year.
The winners’ bracket final between Bryant and Sheridan was originally scheduled for Monday but was postponed by the rainstorms that rumbled through central Arkansas. Game time was re-set for Tuesday afternoon meaning that, even though the two teams were the last unbeatens, they would both have to play twice on Tuesday.
Because Bryant had already played Cabot but not Paragould yet, the Sox were matched up with the latter while Sheridan took on Cabot in an elimination game following the Bryant-Sheridan showdown.
Sheridan had a good game plan for the Sox. Realizing Bryant’s hitters are fastball hunters, the Jackets went with Brady Bibb who not only had a tough curveball but could throw it for strikes. The right-hander wound up throwing the entire eight innings, only allowing four hits, two of which were struck by Garrett Misenheimer. The Sox were blanked on one hit through five.
“He threw against us before, when we got rained out at Sheridan (in the Zone tournament),” noted Sox manager Tyler Brown. “We scored two runs against him. He didn’t throw as many breaking balls over there. He threw more fastballs in those two innings at Sheridan than he did this whole game, the whole eight innings.
“Our philosophy is, we’re going to hit fastballs,” he explained. “Now, if a guy’s throwing 95 percent curveballs, we’re going to make an adjustment. We just weren’t able to square enough balls up the majority of the time to get runners on. We hit way too many fly balls.
“But I will say, we competed and we battled the whole time,” he added. “We did a good job that last inning of taking what they were going to give us. In the end, we got it done and it was a heck of a job by our guys.”
In that game-winning uprising in the eighth, Bibb hit Bryant’s Cameron Coleman with the first pitch of the inning. Moments later, Jake East got a nice bunt down that Bibb fielded. On a bang-bang play, East beat it out for a hit. Sheridan manager Landon Moore argued but the play stood.
On the very next pitch, Sox leadoff batter Logan Allen was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with no one out. On an 0-2 count, Connor Tatum went the other way with a flyball. And it was deep enough for a sacrifice fly as Coleman scored to snap the tie.
When third base was left uncovered on the play, East hustled over from second without a play. Allen alertly followed up, getting to second with Misenheimer coming to the plate.
For create a force at every base, Sheridan walked Misenheimer intentionally to load the bases. Dylan Hurt, however, spoiled that strategy with a grounder into the hole at short that Sheridan’s Nick Whitley got to. His throw to first was not only late but off-line. Both East and Allen scored to make it 4-1.
Bonvillain gave up a one-out single to Lathan Wylie in the bottom of the eighth but retired the next two. Whitley lined to Coleman in right then Evan Thompson skied to Allen in center to close out the win.
The lefty had relieved starter Austin Kelly in the third. Kelly, who had been sidelined by injury for much of the season but pitched splendidly upon his return, only allowed one hit in the first 2 1/3 but he walked three. He gave up a single to Dustin Reid in the second and walked Isiah Quintanilla. But he struck out Zach Glidden to escape the jam.
In the third, an error and a pair of one-out walks had the bases loaded and clean-up hitter Evan Thompson coming up. Bonvillain got the call to relieve and, on his second pitch, Thompson rolled to Tatum at second. He started the inning-ending doubleplay.
Bonvillain retired the first seven he faced and, in the top of the sixth, Bryant broke through with the first run. East walked and was sacrificed to second by Allen. Tatum shot a liner that Bibb speared for the second out. But Misenheimer came through on a 3-2 count, bouncing a single up the middle to make it 1-0.
With Misenheimer on second thanks to the late throw to the plate, Hurt made a bid for a hit but was robbed by Whitley at short.
Wylie broke Bonvillain’s string of outs when he opened the bottom of the sixth with a double inside the bag at third. Whitley sacrificed him to third and Thompson tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
Bibb set down the Sox in the top of the seventh and, in the home half, Bibb singled. He was bunted to second by Quintanilla and took third on a passed ball. So Sheridan had the potential winning run at third with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Again, Bonvillain was clutch. He struck out pinch-hitter Caleb Clay then got Renner Smith to bounce out to East at short to send the game to extra innings.
“At the beginning of the year, we struggled defensively,” Brown mentioned. “We’ve made tremendous strides throughout the whole season and we showed that today.
“Beaux has gotten better and better each and every outing,” he asserted. “He’s found his breaking pitch and he throws a good change-up.
“AK (Kelly) did a good job but it was only his second outing after re-hab. I thought he did a good job. We had him on a pitch count and he was already getting up there. So the decision to make a change was pretty easy. Beaux came in and did a heck of a job. He didn’t walk anyone. He made them put the ball in play and we made plays.”
