Bryant AAA earns ‘huge’ win over Benton
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
Both teams came up with last-inning dramatics but the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team got the last hacks and pulled out a 7-6 win over the ir rivals from Benton Tuesday night at Ashley Park.
Dustin Morris drilled a hard grounder through the drawn-in infield for a single that drove in the winning run with no one out in the bottom of the seventh after Benton’s Clay Goodwin had given his team the lead with a two-run homer in the top of the inning.
Daniel Bennett, who contributed a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a wild throw to first just before Morris’ game-winner, picked up the victory on the mound in relief of starter Anthony Rose.
Nathaniel Doddridge absorbed the loss in relief of David Groce.
Both teams came into the game struggling. Benton, now 21-7 and ranked tops in the state for most of the first half of the season, has been hit-and-miss of late, though still ranked No. 2 in the state after an impressive tournament championship at Jacksonville over the weekend.
Bryant, on the other hand, was 5-12 since a five-game win streak had them ranked in the top 10 in early June.
So, both needed a win as the stretch run of the regular season got under way. (The District Tournament begins July 23, though Benton, as host of the AAA State Tournament this season, has an automatic State bid.)
“This is huge,” stated Bryant coach Tic Harrison, who subbed for big brother Craig, the Sox manager, who was away on business Tuesday. “This is good for our morale. It’s getting close to the time for District and we know we’ve got a good club here. We’ve had some struggles and we’re still trying to find our personality. But this kind of thing, especially against (Benton) — they’re a good ballclub — this is the kind of thing that turns teams around. It may be a little late in the year but it’s still before the District and that’s when you’ve got to do it.”
Coming from behind was a rarity for the Sox this season. Harrison reflected on pre-game preparations. “I talked to these guys about just playing to win,” he recollected. “Before the game, we come out and we yell, ‘Win,” every game but do we really mean it? I just said, ‘Hey, we want to play to win and we want to mean it.’ And they bowed it up tonight.”
It was a seesaw battle. Bryant took the lead initially in the home half of the first. Groce issued one-out walks to Billy Landers and J.J. Yant, uncorked a wild pitch then Kris Kuykendall looped a two-out, two-strike pitch to right-center to drive in both.
Rose, who went 3-for-3 in the game, followed with a double but Groce got out of the jam without giving up anymore.
Benton tied it in the top of the second when Jeremy McGinty followed a two-out double by Kevin Ashworth with a two-run jack to right.
After the Sox wasted a lead-off double by Allen Young in the bottom of the inning, Benton gained the lead in the third. Doddridge doubled, took third on a flyout to deep center by Clark Belew and, after a two-out walk to Goodwin, scored on a single up the middle by Claigh Roseberry. (Goodwin was out trying to reach third on the play but not until after Doddridge had scored.)
Groce pitched around a single by Logan Critz and a two-out walk to Rose in the third then Rose overcame a pair of walks in the top of the fourth.
Infield singles by Young and Morris appeared to have Bryant back in business in the home fourth but Fitts grounded to Goodwin at third who stepped on the bag and fired to second for a force. Fitts avoided a triple play by hustling down the line and it proved to be an important factor. Landers followed with a double then, on a 2-2 delivery, Yant cranked a three-run dinger to left to give the Sox a 5-3 lead.
It stayed that way until the sixth when Benton’s Boyd Goodner smacked a solo homer with one out to make it a one-run game. A two-out walk to McGinty and an infield hit by Perry put Rose and the Sox under the gun after that but he fanned Doddridge to preserve the lead for the time being.
In turn, Bryant loaded the bases with two down in the bottom of the sixth. Doddridge relieved and got the final out, keeping it a one-run game.
Rose retired Clark Belew to start the seventh then Brett Huskey singled to left. Harrison considered pulling Rose at that point but Goodwin, a switch-hitter who had been batting lefty all evening against the left-handed Rose (going 0-for-2 with a walk) was due up. He stayed with Rose but Goodwin turned around and hit right-handed — his natural but rarely-employed side — this time. Goodwin got into a 1-1 offering and cleared the fence in left to put Benton on top 6-5.
Bennett relieved and retired the next two batters to keep it close.
“I told Anthony when he went out for the seventh inning he was on ‘ones’,” said Harrison. “That means if a guy gets on base then he’s coming out. He got the first guy out and he made good pitches. The second guy (Huskey), he kind of went deep (in the count) and gave up a base hit. Then, they had their best hitter (Goodwin) up there and Anthony’s left-handed so the guy batted right-handed. If I bring Bennett in, the guy’s going to bat left-handed and that’s his strength.
So, I played the odds and lost but the guy’s a good hitter. He’s just a good hitter and he’s going to make big plays like that. He has all year and he’ll probably keep doing it.”
In the bottom of the inning, however, Rose smacked his third hit to lead things off. Josh Caldwell was then hit by a pitch as he squared to bunt. Bennett then got a good bunt down that Doddridge had to hustle towards the third-base line to field. His rushed throw sailed over the head of McGinty, the first baseman. Rose scored to tie the game and only a fortuitous ricochet off the fence kept Caldwell from following with the winner.
But, on the very next pitch, Morris drilled a single past the diving Belew at short to bring in Caldwell.
The win improves the Sox to 13-14 on the season. They were set to visit Malvern on Wednesday before hosting Heber Springs on Thursday.
