SHERIDAN — Six days after they concluded the regular season with a convincing 10-5 win over Malvern National Bank, the Bryant Black Sox AA American Legion team was battling the Bankers again. And through two innings, it was a 4-3 game.
But Malvern took advantage of five walks and four hit batsmen with two hits to score eight times in the bottom of the third inning to blow up the game. That led to a 13-3 victory that ended the season for the Sox at the 2016 AA American Legion State Tournament.
It was a star-crossed season for the Sox who seemed to take two steps back for every step forward. But manager Hunter Mayall and assistant Cody Gogus, who led the 2015 AA team to a surprising State title, seemed to have the team in top form at the end. The win over Malvern on July 18 was part of a four-game winning streak that included a first-round win over Hot Springs Village at State.
But big innings wound up biting the Sox in their final two losses. Magnet Cove used one to rally for a 14-10 win on Saturday followed up by the Malvern blow up.
The AA division of American Legion baseball is a tough one. For a team that draws from a school district the size of Bryant, the AA team is basically a 17-and-under team with a few 18’s. For smaller school bases like Malvern and Magnet Cove, it’s a 19-and-under division (like the Senior or AAA level at Bryant). So, most of the time, teams like Bryant are playing against older, often more physically mature kids.
On Sunday, Malvern broke out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Devon Carpenter singled, Brandon Scott walked and Austin Wright drilled an RBI hit. Scott moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dalton Bray.
In the top of the third, Bryant grabbed the lead. Hot-hitting Diego Vargas singled then walks were issued to Cade Dupree and Drew Brown to load the bases. After a pitching change, walks to Shawn Tingley, C.J. Wallace and, with two down, Myers Buck forced in runs to make it 3-2.
Malvern countered with two more in the second aided by two hit batsmen and a walk to set up the inning. A two-out single by Scott picked up an RBI before the Sox turned a doubleplay on a grounder to Buck at short.
Dupree drew a one-out walk in the top of the third but the Sox were unable to take advantage. In the game-breaking home third, the lone hits were a single by Jordan Hart early in the frame then a big double by Carpenter late.
Kaleb Kling, the third Bryant pitcher following Jacob Coppock and Brown, finally ended the inning with a strikeout of Bryce Freer, a pop to Buck at short by Drew Golden and a fly to left by Parker Freer.
Tingley reached on an error to start the Bryant fourth and when Wallace walked, it looked like the Sox might get something going in response. But Scott, the second Malvern pitcher of the game, retired the next three to squelch those hopes.
Kling fanned two to work around a one-out single by Carpenter in the home fourth but Scott, after issuing a lead-off walk to Vargas set down Bryant as well.
The game ended when Bray scored to make it a 10-run difference in the bottom of the fifth. He had singled. Hart walked and Bryce Freer reached on an error to load the bases. Kling got Golden to pop it up but a wild pitch allowed Bray to score, ending the game and the Black Sox’ 2016 campaign.
