By Rob Patrick
Intentional walks are tougher than they look on TV. A pitcher is schooled to bear down and throw the ball hard, in stride, with the right release point, the right arm angle, with the strike zone as a target. So, when he's asked to lob the ball in wide of the plate, higher than he's used to, especially under the pressure of a game being on the line — it's not automatic.
(It's odd, really, that, in high school ball, they make it automatic; no pitches are made, the batter is just rewarded first base.)
In American Legion ball, they go through with it just like in the Major Leagues. And, every once in a while, it makes a difference.
Tuesday's Zone 4 Legion game between the Bryant Black Sox and Little Rock Continental Express at Bryant High School field, ended with what turned out to be one of those "once-in-a-while" moments.[more]
With one out and the potential winning run at third in the bottom of the seventh, Continental reliever Lance Black's assignment was to intentionally walk Kaleb Jobe to set up a potential double-play situation. Or he might've been asked to walk the next batter Brady Butler too in order to set up a force at every base in hopes of getting the game to extra innings.
The right-hander didn't look too comfortable. He may have never been asked to intentionally pass someone before.
His first pitch was nearly a strike. His second was high but catcher Scott Chalene leaped up to haul it down. The third was higher than that and went to the screen for a wild pitch allowing Caleb Garrett to score the game-winning run.
It was a hard end to a rugged game for the Express and a scintillating come-from-behind 3-2 victory for the Sox.
Bryant improved to 7-1 on the season, 3-0 in the league going into a weekend in Fayetteville where they'll play Nashville and the host team on Saturday then perennial powerhouses Texarkana, Texas and Bartlesville, Okla., on Sunday.
"We battled through it," acknowledged Sox manager Craig Harrison. "It was a good game. You stay out here long enough, I guess you see everything. I'm pretty sure we've never won a game with a walk-off intentional walk pitch going back to the screen. But I'll take it. That's a league win over a quality team when we didn't really play our best. But it counts."
It was the second one-run game in Bryant's three league contests, probably indicative of what kind of dogfight it's going to be in Zone 4 this summer. Continental features a core of players that captured the AA Legion state title last year.
And for six innings, they were in position to knock off the defending Zone champion Sox thanks in large part to the pitching of lefty Drew Tullos who was working on a three-hit shutout through five innings. But, in the top of the sixth, he was at the plate with a runner on first and, on a 2-1 pitch, took a fastball from Bryant lefty Trent Daniel on his right arm just above the elbow. Though Tullos is a lefty too, he appeared to be in a lot of pain. Though he didn't seem to be thrilled with the idea of continuing on the mound, he persevered through the sixth.
Bryant picked up a run to cut the lead to 2-1, but Tullos got out of a bases-loaded jam with a doubleplay and Black came on in relief in the seventh.
Hunter Mayall beat out an infield hit to open the bottom of the seventh. Garrett got down a sacrifice bunt that Black fielded but second baseman Ivan Tate was late covering first and the throw got through as Tate and Garrett collided and went sprawling to the ground as Mayall sprinted toward third. Right fielder Blake Gipson was backing up the play but his throw to third sailed over its target and Mayall was able to sprint home with the tying run as Garrett gathered himself and took second.
Tate stayed down for awhile, the fourth Express player to be shaken up during the contest. Along with Tullos, center fielder Justin Williams had to leave the game with a leg injury in the top of the fifth and shortstop Jordan Getchall took a bad hop off the bridge of his nose in the bottom of the fifth. He stayed in the game but moved to center field after being tended to by Bryant's busy trainer Christa Finney.
Tyler Sawyer followed Garrett with a bouncer in the hole at short. Garrett held initially but as soon as Clint Green, the Express shortstop, fired to first, he took off for third and beat the return throw from first baseman Jim Manney, getting into position to score the winning run.
"Caleb made a really good play there," Harrison said. "When he ran to third, he said, 'I knew the guy (Green) was in the hole and it was going to be a long throw, and on a long throw, I can make it.' That's a 16-year-old making a heads-up play that ended up winning the game for us. That's what we're trying to teach, how to play on the field. They're so fundamentally sound. We told them, 'You guys have been drilled with fundamentals. You know what to do and now it's just playing and making it happen on the field.'"
Jobe and Tullos dueled as the starters. Continental broke through with two runs in the third when Black beat out an infield hit and scored on a long double by Williams who advanced to third on an errant relay throw. Getchall singled on a 3-2 pitch to make it 2-0.
Any chance for further damage was squelched when B.J. Ellis, the Bryant catcher, threw Getchall out trying to steal and Jobe got Scott Chalene to fly out to Garrett in center.
Bryant made a bid to answer when Austin Benning drew a lead-off walk. He was forced at second on a grounder off Mayall's bat but Mayall stole second and, with two down, Sawyer walked. Jobe cracked a single to center. Mayall came around third trying to score but a perfect throw from Williams nailed him to end the inning.
"You know, players have bad nights but, tonight, I just couldn't get a rhythm with my pitch calling," Harrison related. "I had a bad game but, to their credit, our pitchers battled through it. It seemed like every time I thought I had it where I thought I had them out, I'd call a pitch and they'd hit it. I was just off. They hit the ball well. But (assistant coach) Tic (Harrison) even got on me and said, 'You're in a bad trend. You need to switch it up.' So, I went to the mound and told Kaleb we're going to pitch backwards because they're on me. So, he went out in the fourth inning and he almost had a three-pitch inning. They got a couple of hits but he got out of it."
"I knew we had a strong bullpen tonight so, even though Kaleb could've gone more, I said, 'We're going to use our bullpen here and try to throw some different things at them,'" he added.
In the fifth, Harrison called on Caleb Milam who worked around a single and a walk with his teammates turning a doubleplay. In the sixth, Daniel came on and was greeted by a single from Manney. After Tullos was hit by a pitch, a passed ball moved runners to second and third. With the infield in, Adam Meeks bounced out to Mayall at third. Dan Aday followed and, on the first pitch, fouled off a pitch on a squeeze play. On the second pitch, he missed on the bunt attempt and Ellis tagged out Manney for the second out of the inning. Daniel went on to fan Aday to keep it 2-0.
Tullos worked through a 1-2-3 fourth and, in the fifth, overcame the bad-hop double by Ellis off Getchall's nose. With two down, Garrett grounded to third and Ellis somehow got around a tag attempt by Black. But Sawyer lined out to center as Tullos maintained the shutout.
In the sixth, Jobe and Brady Butler led off with singles. Justin Blankenship got a bunt down that Tullos fielded with his sore arm. He looked to second but no one was covering there, so he turned and fired to third only to have Jobe beat the throw. With the bases loaded, Brennan Bullock earned an RBI walk as Tullos' began to show his frustration, looking to the dugout as if to say to his coach, "Why aren't you taking me out?" As it turned out, the Express was short on fresh arms.
And Tullos came through in the clutch, getting Ellis to bounce to third on the first pitch. Black threw home for a force. Benning followed with a sharp grounder on a 2-2 pitch that Aday turned into an inning-ending doubleplay.
"We've seen three lefties this year and we haven't really changed our approach," Harrison commented. "We had some at-bats that weren't really that good, swinging on the first pitch three batters in a row in the fifth and, in the sixth after we got it to 2-1. We had a guy up that hadn't played much who swings at the first pitch. He got a good piece of it but, after a bases-loaded walk — that's not what we teach. They made a good play then they get the doubleplay and I'm thinking, well, we had our chance."
Sawyer relieved in the top of the seventh and Continental threatened to add to the lead. Black cracked his second hit of the game to open the frame. Tate, trying to sacrifice, popped up to Sawyer then Blake Gipson shot a grounder past Mayall at third. Getchall sliced a single to right and Black tried to score but the relay from Blankenship in right to Butler, the cut-off man, to Ellis got there just in time for the out.
But a wild pitch pushed runners to second and third as Sawyer and Chalene battled. Chalene fouled off three two-strike pitches before grounding out to Jobe at short to end the threat, setting up the game-winning events in the bottom of the inning.
BRYANT 3, LITTLE ROCK CONTINENTAL EXPRESS 2
Continental Express Bryant
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Tate, rf-cf-2b 4 0 2 0 Mayall, 3b 4 1 2 0
Williams, cf 3 1 1 1 Garrett, cf 2 1 0 0
Gipson, rf 1 0 0 0 Sawyer, ss-p 3 0 0 0
Getchall, ss-cf 3 0 2 1 Jobe, p-2b-ss 3 1 2 0
Chalene, c 4 0 0 0 Butler, 1b 3 0 1 0
Manney, 1b 3 0 1 0 Blankenship, rf 3 0 0 0
Tullos, p-dh 2 0 0 0 Bullock, lf 2 0 0 1
Hayes, 3b 0 0 0 0 Ellis, c 3 0 1 0
Meeks, lf 3 0 1 0 Benning, 2b 0 0 0 0
Aday, 2b-ss 3 0 1 0 Milam, p 0 0 0 0
Green, 3b-ss 0 0 0 0 Daniel, p 2 0 0 0
Black, 3b-ss-p 3 1 2 0 Wade, 2b 0 0 0 0
Totals 28 2 10 2 Totals 25 3 6 1
Continental Express 002 000 0 — 2
BRYANT 000 001 2 — 3
One out when winning run scored.
E—Bullock, Mayall, Black, Gipson. DP—Continental Express 1, Bryant 1. LOB—Continental Express 8, Bryant 8. 2B—Williams, Ellis. SB—Mayall. S—Garrett.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Continental Express
Tullos 6 0 0 5 3 5
Black 0.1 2 0 1 0 0
Bryant
Jobe 4 2 1 6 1 1
Milam 1 0 0 1 0 0
Daniel 1 0 0 1 0 1
Sawyer (W) 1 0 0 2 0 0
HBP—Tullos (by Daniel). WP—Sawyer, Black. PB—Ellis.
