Bleckley County wins thriller, Houston County loses thriller, John Milledge and Westfield split

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            The final two innings? Major blood pressure pushing.

            Bleckley County watched a 6-0 lead cut in half in an inning, and then Bremen chipped away with single-run innings to pull within one after five.

            Bremen won the coin toss and was the home team, adding to the stress.

            But Bleckley County pitching and defense came up big down the stretch and the Royals held on for a 6-5 win on the road to take the Class AA quarterfinal series after rain pushed the game back a day to Friday.

            And now the Royals are in the semifinals, and at home, for the first time since 1996. They’ll host Jeff Davis on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

            The home field wasn’t much of a help, Bremen kicking it around for seven errors, leading to three earned runs.

            They helped the Royals to four in the top of the third, two coming in on one error before Steven Knighton’s two-run homer, all with no outs. Bleckley County managed nothing in the inning after that.

            Bleckley County stranded a two-out runner in the top of the sixth, and Bremen’s one-out runner was erased in an inning-ending double play, 6-4-3.

            The Royals got a pair of two-out runners in the top of the seventh, and left them there, keeping the door open for the Blue Devils.

            Brody Little got two outs, gave up a single to center, and finished it with a first-pitch pop to shortstop.

            That vaulted the Royals into the semifinals, a nice turnaround from not making the playoffs a year ago. They lost in two games to Bacon County in the quarterfinals two years ago.

            Little, who went the final 3.1 innings to follow Tripp Purser, led the Royals with three of their five hits. Jack Fernandez and Knighton had two RBI each.

Houston County loses a heartbreaker

            The Bears led by a run when weather led to pushing the completion of their final game with Harrison back to Friday.

            The host Hoyas snagged some momentum with the break, tying the game to force extra innings and winning 8-7 in nine innings to take the Class 6A series.

            The Bears stranded a leadoff runner in the top of the seventh, and Harrison went down in order. Houston County did it again in the eighth, adding a two-out runner, and the Hoyas got two on in the bottom half and left them on first and second, Cam Jones coming on and getting the third out.

            Houston County’s Jeremy White opened the ninth with a single, and Trent Ringer followed with one an out later. But Harrison got the 6-4-3 double play to end it and move on.

            The Bears led 5-1 after three only for the Hoyas to tie it in the fourth on Thursday.

            Jacob Profit, Corbet Luna, Jaden Woods, and White had two hits each for Houston County, Coleman Willis and Cristian Davis with two RBI each and Jones and Luna scoring twice.

GISA semifinal: John Milledge, Westfield split

            John Milledge beat Westfield 6-3 in 10 innings of the first game of their GISA AAA series, and Westfield countered with a rousing 15-3 win in the nightcap.

            Westfield gave up a leadoff walk in the 10th and then got two outs.  It was a tease.

            A walk, two outs, another walk and a passed ball preceded a single by Dalton Prestridge that brought in two runs, Carson Dyer’s infield single bringing in another run.

            Reliever Jackson Carter retired the Hornets in order in the bottom of the 10th.

            Taylor Dixon had two hits and Prestridge two RBI for the Trojans, while James Hayes had two hits and Matt Huckabee two hits for Westfield.

            It took Westfield awhile, and a 2-0 deficit, to get going in the nightcap, but the Hornets put up six in the fourth, two in the fifth and six in the sixth to cut it short.

            Michael Fitzpatrick drove in five runs on two hits for the Hornets, who got two-hit games from James Hayes and Gage Locke, two RBI from Daniel Smith (three runs), Locke, and Matt Huckabee, who walked five times. Hatch Brannen and Chase Spence scored twice.

            It was an odd mound game for Westfield, starter Bennett Wellman walking and striking out eight, and reliever Toxey Brannen walking and striking out one (in two-thirds of an inning). But they held the Trojans to three hits.

The finale is Saturday at 1 p.m.

         Terrell and Piedmont played in a Class AA series, but no scores were available.