Shurtleff outduels Cabot lefty in 2-1 win for Everett Sox at State
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NORTH LITTLE ROCK — In a pitcher’s duel between the Bryant Everett Black Sox’ right-hander Alex Shurtleff and the Cabot Centennial Bank Reds’ lefty Gavin Tillery locked at 1-1 after four innings, Dylan Hurt drilled a two-out double and, a pitch later, Hunter Oglesby belted a triple. Shurtleff and the Bryant defense made it stand up for a 2-1 win that vaulted the Sox into the winners’ bracket final at the 2014 Junior American Legion State Tournament at Burns Park on Sunday.
Bryant improved to 29-6 on the season including their eighth consecutive win in one-run games.
“We’re in a fantastic position,” stated Sox manager Tyler Brown. “It’s the position we want to be in. Obviously, we’ve got to come out (Monday) and be focused. It’s a big one. If we win (Monday), we’re in the championship game. We’ve got to come ready to play.”
Monday at 6:30, the Sox will face the Sheridan Yellowjackets in the winners’ bracket final, rematch of the championship game in the Zone 4 District Tournament just last week in Sheridan. Bryant won that game, which started on Tuesday, was suspended due to lightning until Wednesday, 10-1.
“I think our kids do a great job, day in and day out, when we come to the field, it doesn’t really matter who we play,” Brown commented, before Sheridan’s 12-0 win over Arkadelphia, “we’re going to play our game. I feel like, as the season progressed, we’ve done a really good job of staying in the game early and staying in the game late, just keeping that momentum going, having more energy game by game. I don’t think it matters who we play, we’re going to come out and be focused and just play our game.”
Shurtleff and Tillery each scattered seven hits and there was just one walk between them, a fifth-inning pass surrendered by the Bryant hurler, which wound up having no impact. Shurtleff wound up striking out seven, Tillery three.
“A heck of a job,” Brown asserted, regarding his pitcher. “You know, he’s “Mr. Rubberband Man.” He loves the big moments and he’s good in those moments. He was throwing two pitches for strikes. They really struggled with his slider and he threw it consistently for a strike. That threw them off. He did a good job of filling it up, letting us work and not walking a lot of people.”
Shurtleff gave up three of those seven hits in the first inning to Braden Jarnigan, Denver Mullins and Easton Seidl but, along the way, he picked Jarnagan off second with one out. Then Seidl’s hit to the right side struck Nick Belden, who was in as a courtesy runner for Mullins, the Cabot catcher, ending the inning.
In the bottom of the first, Logan Allen beat out an infield hit then Connor Tatum and Garrett Misenheimer placed bunts so well they each picked up singles. With the bases loaded, Hurt hit a grounder into the hole at short. The only hope of getting out for Cabot shortstop Blake McCutchen was to try to throw to third for a force. Jarnigan, however, the Reds’ third baseman had ranged to his left to try to make a play on the ball. He tried to scramble back to the bag but either he was juggling the ball as he grazed the base or he missed it altogether. Either way, Tatum was safe as Allen scored.
Tillery then proceeded to retire 11 batters in a row. He got a lift when, with two out in the first and the bases loaded, Aaron Orender cracked a drive to the gap in right center that probably would’ve cleared the bases. But Reds’ right fielder Mike Havard made a diving catch to prevent it, ending the inning.
While the lefty was setting down the Sox, Shurtleff gave up a lead-off single to Jake Slunder to start the second then retired six straight. In the top of the fourth, however, Mullins doubled to the base of the fence in left center. Shurtleff responded with back-to-back strikeouts then Tillery hit a chopped up the middle that Tatum, Bryant’s second baseman, flagged down behind the second-base bag. Trying to get a throw to first in time to retire Tillery and end the inning, Tatum’s throw sailed high. Michael Sheppard, running for Mullins, sprinted home with the tying run.
Tillery’s string ended when Orender shot a one-hopper off the pitcher’s glove for an infield hit with two out in the home fourth. Cameron Coleman yanked a single into right then Jake East reached on an error to load the bases. But Tillery escaped by getting Allen to fly to center.
After Shurtleff worked around the two-out walk in the top of the fifth, Tillery appeared to be cruising through the home half before Hurt and Oglesby came through to snap the tie.
“I told them, when there’s a guy on the mound like that — he’s stinkin’ good — we’ve just got to keep working at it, keep working at it,” said Brown, referring to Tillery. “Get yourself a fastball but, once you get two strikes, you’ve got to battle up. I thought we did a really good job of staying in that game when it was 1-1 late and pulling it out. Fantastic job.”
Coleman made a tremendous catch down the right-field line for the first out of the top of the sixth, preventing Mullins from going 3 for 3. Shurtleff struck out the next two and pitched around a two-out single by Bobby Duncan in the seventh. Havard hit a hot shot to third baseman Jordan Gentry who played it off his chest and fired to first in time for the game-ending out.
“We went to all those tournaments in Memphis and Omaha to get the kids seen but, most importantly, I feel like we go to those tournaments to get them ready for these types of games,” Brown related. “We played a lot of close games when we went out of state.
“One thing that I’m very impressed with this team is, when it’s a dogfight like that, we don’t give in,” he added. “We stay at it. We keep working at it and we do a good job of pulling them out.”
BRYANT EVERETT 2, CABOT CENTENNIAL BANK 1
Reds ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
McCutchen, ss 2 0 0 0 Allen, cf 3 1 1 0
Jarnigan, 3b 3 0 1 0 Tatum, 2b 3 0 1 0
Mullins, c 3 0 2 0 Misenheimer, 1b 3 0 1 0
Belden, cr 0 0 0 0 Hurt, c 3 1 1 1
Sheppard, cr 0 1 0 0 Kelly, cr 0 0 0 0
Seidl, lf 3 0 1 0 Ogelsby, lf 3 0 1 1
Slunder, cf 3 0 1 0 Gentry, 3b 3 0 0 0
Tillery, p 3 0 1 0 Orender, dh 3 0 1 0
Wilkie, cr 0 0 0 0 Coleman, rf 3 0 1 0
Odom, 1b 3 0 0 0 East, ss 3 0 0 0
Duncan, 2b 3 0 1 0 Shurtleff, p 0 0 0 0
Havard, rf 3 0 0 0
Totals 26 1 7 0 Totals 27 2 7 2
Cabot 000 100 0 — 1
Bryant 100 001 x — 2
E—Jarnigan, Tatum, Duncan. LOB—Cabot 5, Bryant 7. 2B—Hurt. 3B—Ogelsby.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Cabot
Tillery (L) 6 1 1 7 0 3
Bryant
Shurtleff (W) 7 1 0 7 1 7
