High schools: Game 3s now for Tattnall and Bleckley County; Upson-Lee heads to the Class 4A state soccer championship
Trojans survive opening loss
Being down in a series at home is a rarity for Tattnall, which barely avoided elimination with a 7-3 nine-inning win in the second game of their Class A-Private semifinal doubleheader with Hebron Christian.
The Lions exploded for seven runs in the sixth and held on for a 9-8 win in the opener.
Tattnall scored one each in the first and second, and Hebron Christian came back with one in the fifth and sixth.
The Trojans (32-3) managed only a run in the eighth after loading the bases with no outs. The Lions (20-15-1) tied it in the bottom half on a one-out bunt, then stranded two.
Whoever took advantage of good fortune was going to win, and Tattnall did, making some good fortune along the way.
B.J. Spears reached on a one-out error in the ninth, and reached third on a throwing error that put Miles Morris on second. Brooks Gorman singled in Morris, and Trey Ham walked – intentionally after a few pitches, including Gorman scooting to second on a passed ball.
The runners advanced on a grounder, and cruised home on Hunter Alexander’s triple down the right-field line.
Relief pitcher Carter Fink, who came on to start the eighth in relief of Dawson Brown, needed 11 pitches to finish off the Lions in the ninth and force Game 3.
The nightcap was frisky on both sides, getting noisy in the bottom of the fifth.
The Lions had two runners on with two outs. A third strike slipped away from catcher Ham, and chaos followed. Hebron Christian coaches didn’t think batter Max Bennett, who had started toward the dugout, was called out, and Tattnall thought he did.
Bennett veered back and sprinted to first, making it, and – despite the home plate ump seeking no help from base umpires and a discussion with Tattnall head coach Joey Hiller – loading the bases.
A walk brought in the Lions’ first run and put the momentum on the visitors’ side. The Trojans managed one runner in the top of the sixth.
Brown appeared a little unsettled, and a throw on a routine sacrifice bunt got away from him, Hebron Christian tying it a batter later in the sixth on another bunt. He survived a hit batter and got out of the sixth with no more drama.
Every close or loud play and most umpire decisions after that inspired a roar from either side after the fifth, including whether a batter got or didn’t get a timeout.
Just when it seemed Hebron Christian had the momentum late, the Trojans put it away in the ninth.
Morris, Gorman, and Alexander each had two hits, Ham and Alexander with two RBI each.
Brown fanned nine and walked two in seven innings, Fink getting the win.
Tattnall coughed up a 6-0 lead, aided by two errors, after three in the opener.
Ham belted a two-run homer to key a three-run second, after an RBI double in the first.
Hebron Christian loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and came up empty. But the Lions rallied in the fifth, opening with four straight singles and getting a run on one and on a fielder’s choice grounder before a 1-6-3 double play ended the inning.
Tattnall answered with one in the bottom of the fifth, but Hebron Christian was right back at it in the top of the sixth, getting six of the first seven batters on base and being aided by three errors – the Lions forced the issue all day with bunts, that Tattnall didn’t always handle so well – and stranding two runners.
Tattnall got one in the top of the seventh, but the game ended on a 6-4-3 double play.
Spears went 3-for-4 atop the lineup, and Ham drove in four runs with two hits, Alexander and Bo Hatcher adding two hits.
Tattnall left eight on base on a day when Gorman had one of his worst games, giving up 14 hits and nine runs – seven earned – with four strikeouts and one walk in 5.2 innings.
Gorman threw 112 pitches in the opener and Brown 111 in the second game. Hebron Christian’s two starters threw 103 and 122, so Game 3 is likely to involve some major creativity on the mound for both teams. According to Gamechanger pitching numbers, only one of those four – Hebron Christian’s Mason Ashby – would be available Wednesday.
Those are not official numbers.
Bleckley County vs. Jeff Davis
Small-ball defined the first game and a big inning the second, Bleckley County taking the opener 1-0 and Jeff Davis the nightcap 8-2 in the Class AA series.
The teams managed all of seven hits in the first game, but defense did Jeff Davis in.
Lane Kitchens was hit by a pitch and C Waters reached on an error, both with two outs, Kitchens advancing to second on a balk and third on the single.
He scored what proved to be the game-winner on a passed ball.
Winning pitcher Tripp Purser allowed only one runner in the final two innings en route to a complete-game win, with four strikeouts and three walks.
The Royals wasted a leadoff double in the first and one-out single in the fourth. The Yellow Jackets countered with doing the same in the first, second, and fourth.
The Yellow Jackets got four in the bottom of the first, the Royals cutting it in half in the second.
And Bleckley County bats were thus muted, being retired 14 straight times, Ethan Hulsey breaking the drought with a one-out single in the seventh, and that was followed by two outs in six pitches.
Jeff Davis added four in the sixth to seal it.
Kitchens had two of Bleckley County’s six hits. Four of the Yellow Jackets’ runs were unearned.
Soccer: Upson-Lee bound for the championship
Head coach Matt Bentley’s career leading the Upson-Lee boys soccer program is extended by one game.
Bentley, who is giving up the reigns to take an assistant principal job at Upson-Lee, will coach in the Class 4A boys soccer state championship game, thanks to a 1-0 (5-4 on PKs) win over Druid Hills Tuesday night.
The undefeated and top-ranked Knights will play Oconee County later this week. As of midnight Tuesday, the GHSA has yet to announced any finals schedule outside of Class A, which had its semifinals last week and plays on Thursday.
The locations are McEachern and Mercer, with Class A on Thursday, and others on Friday and Saturday, with three games on Saturday at both locations.
Chase Winters, who has signed with Georgia Southern, had the game-winning kick.
Putnam County’s boys lost 6-1 to Thomasville in a Class AA semifinal.