A Sox nab Zone’s top seed
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
When they started, the Bryant Blacksox A American Legion team was playing their last regular season game with the top seed in the upcoming District Tournament on the line.
After they dismissed Pine Bluff National Bank 7-4, it was discovered that they weren’t, but then they were.
Sox manager Scott Williams had been informed by an informed source prior to the game that all his team needed was a win over Pine Bluff to secure the top seed. Instead, however, the Sox needed the win to become one of four teams in the league to have four losses — in also meant Pine Bluff was one of those teams, too — and that they’d been in on a draw to determine that top seed.
And, as it turned out, Bryant’s was the first team drawn from the hat, producing the top seed, after all. The Sox were set to play Stuttgart on Friday, July 12, at 8 p.m., at Sheridan. The tourney was to begin with three games on Thursday, July 11.
“It means we need three wins to qualify for State rather than four,” Williams explained.
So, the Sox’ win over Pine Bluff wound up being just as important as they thought it was. The Sox got good pitching from Daniel Price early and Todd Bryan late to make a five-run second inning uprising hold up. They added single runs in the third and fifth for a cushion that reduced some of the tension in Pine Bluff’s four-run fifth.
The difference in the game was defense. Bryant played errorlessly behind their pitchers while Pine Bluff was guilty of five miscues.
Korey Hunter had two hits and Andrew Moseley socked a two-run triple to highlight the Sox’ offense.
The Bryant second began with a single by Nick Dorsey then an errant pickoff throw that allowed him to race to third. Bryan walked and swiped second. When he drew a throw, Dorsey took off and scored before the return throw was completed.
Hunter kept the inning going with a bunt single then Patrick McBride looped a pop behind the pitcher’s mound. When Pine Bluff hurler Leonard Ogden tripped over the rubber on his way to making the catch, the ball fell. McBride had an infield hit and the Sox had another run. After Landon Bullock got a sacrifice bunt down, Moseley laced a liner to right center to clear the bags. Two pitches later, Dustin Tinkler plated Moseley with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
In the third, Dorsey and Bryan walked and Hunter singled to make it 6-0.
Price had Pine Bluff shut out on just three hits through four innings but ran into a wild streak in the fifth, walking three and hitting a batter to force in a run. After Bryan relieved, Pine Bluff added a run on a fielder’s choice and another on a wild pitch but no more.
To lead off the bottom of the fifth, Dustin Easterly lined a single to right that got past Keenan McCoy. And when McCoy sauntered after the ball then threw poorly back to the infield, Easterly hustled all the way around the bases to make it 7-4.
Bryan allowed a bloop single in the top of the sixth but nothing else. He fanned the next two and got the third out on a comebacker to the mound.
The time limit expired as Bryant was batting in the bottom of the inning.
