Senior Black Sox open season in impressive fashion
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CABOT — You can’t have enough pitching. That reality was driven home again in excruciating fashion last August when the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team was a win away from capturing the Mid-South Regional Tournament and advancing to the American Legion World Series. Tired arms and a fired up team from Columbia, Tenn., conspired to deny the Sox. Columbia handed Bryant an 8-3 loss then rallied for a 12-11 victory in the winner-take-all final.
(Apologies for the reminder.)
Connor Tatum
So, this year, Bryant manager Darren Hurt is working on developing even more ammo in hopes at another run at the Series on what already appears to be a pitching-rich team.
The Sox unleashed a quintet of those arms in the team’s 2015 debut on Tuesday against Cabot Centennial Bank with plans to throw a sixth. But when the Sox’ offense produced a 15-1 lead, the game was called after six innings in accordance to the 10-after-5 run-rule.
Dylan Hurt, Jason Hastings, Blake Patterson, Evan Lee combined to limit Cabot to one unearned run on one hit over five innings. Then third baseman Brandan Warner, who hadn’t pitched in a game in three years or more, closed out the game with a 1-2-3 frame on just 10 pitches. Right-hander Devin Dupree, returning for his 19-year-old season, was set to pitch the seventh.
(By the way, two more Sox hurlers, Alex Shurtleff and Zach Jackson, were impressing at a showcase for high school juniors at Arvest Bank Park, a minor league professional stadium in Springdale.)
At Cabot, Bryant’s pitchers combined to strike out 11 with just one walk. They retired the last 10 Cabot batters and 13 of the last 14 after a two-out error in the second allowed the lone run. The lone hit was a lead-off double by Logan Kirkendoll to lead off that second inning. He advanced to third on a groundout and scored on the error.
Hastings, Patterson and Lee each struck out the side in their respective innings, the third, fourth and fifth. Warner, who hadn’t been used as a pitcher over recent seasons in deference to his status as the Bryant High School football team’s quarterback and his value defensively at third, struck out the first batter he faced in the sixth to make it 10 outs in a row on strikes.
Offensively, the Sox put up crooked numbers in five of the six innings and threatened to score in the other. Warner and Patterson each had three hits. Drew Tipton and Hastings added two apiece.
In the first, Warner got a three-run uprising with a single off the glove of third baseman Brandon Jones’ diving attempt. Patterson smacked a single to center and, when the ball was misplayed in the outfield, runners wound up at second and third. Hastings drew a walk to load the bases for Lee, who lashed a single to left to make it 1-0. Garrett Misenheimer then burned the Cabot centerfielder for a two-run double.
Hurt recorded a strikeout and Warner made a nice defensive play in Cabot’s 1-2-3 home first.
In the second, the Sox revved it up again with Connor Tatum popping a single to left. Tipton’s base hit sent him to third and, with one out, he scored on Patterson’s single into the hole at short. With Tipton at third, Hastings bunted him home and beat out a single to make it 5-0.
Drew Tipton
After Cabot got its lone run, the Sox got two more in the top of the third. With two down, Tatum worked a walk then raced to third when Tipton smacked a single to right. With Tipton on the move, Warner belted a single up the middle to plate Tatum. Tipton reached third and, moments later, scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-1.
Hastings fanned the first two in the third then issued a walk on a 3-2 pitch. But that was the last Cabot base-runner of the game. He struck out Dylan Bowers to end the inning and the Bankers didn’t even make contact in fair territory until Braden Jarnigan bunted with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Hurt, who was catching by then, threw him out then Dylan Bowers grounded out to end the game.
In the interim, the Sox added two in the fifth. Tatum and Tipton each reached on errors and wound up scoring on wild pitches before Patterson sliced a two-out double to left.
In the top of the sixth, Lee and Hurt drew walks with one out and Tatum waited out a pass with two down. Tipton was hit by a pitch to force in a run but not until the umpires consulted. The home plate umpire initially ruled that Tipton hadn’t tried to get out of the way, an odd notion in a 9-1 game.
Nevertheless, the run stood and the inning continued with Warner drilling a single to right that the outfielder whiffed on. That cleared the bases. Warner wound up at third and eventually scored on a wild pitch after Patterson walked. A free pass to Hastings brought up Lee, who’s grounder to short drew an errant throw allowing Patterson to score the game’s final run.
The team is off to Atlanta, Ga., for the weekend to play in a Perfect Game showcase tournament. The Sox will open on Thursday at 9:45 p.m., against Team Georgia Mizuno Elite. Pool play continues on Friday at 12:45 p.m., against Centerfield Baseball Academy and, on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., against Training Camp Baseball. Bracket play will be Sunday.
