By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          A championship series in a big-league park, pitching and defense take on a little more emphasis than expecting some bombs in a high-school park.

          Houston County used that equation in different ways on Wednesday to sweep Lassiter and win the GHSA Class 6A state championship at Truist Park in South Marietta.

          In Game 1, Houston County’s pitching and defense came through with just enough late-arriving offense for a 2-1 win.

          The Houston County offense was awake early in the second game with four runs in the first, which Coleman Willis made stand the rest of the way in a 4-0 win.

          It gave the Bears their third state title since 2014, the first two in Class 5A.

          The players had temporarily dispersed before a postgame meal, and Houston County head coach Matt Hopkins stood in a quiet hotel lobby.

          “I don’t even know if I can eat right now,” he said. “I’m still trying to absorb everything.”

          The nightcap had potential to get out of hand, the Bears racking up more hits in their first at-bat than in all of the first game.

          Andrew Dunford took care of two runs with a triple, following singles from Gage Harrelson and Treyson Hughes. Dunford scored on Willis’ single, and Willis advanced on a Trent Ringer single and scored on Garrett Hortman’s single.

          Ringer was thrown out at the plate on Hortman’s single.

          Houston County was fairly quieted the rest of the way, stranding six, two less than Lassiter.

          Willis gave Houston County a second straight solid performance on the hill. The Georgia-bound righty gave up seven hits, but struck out seven with no walks, on 108 pitches. And again, Lassiter got a nice pitching effort – from Walker Noland, with eight strikeouts, nine hits, and two walks – but little offense to help out.

          Willis never retired the Trojans in order until the final inning, and that took all of 10 pitches.

          He deftly got out of threats and jams in the third and fourth, runners stranded at second and third in the third and first and third in the fourth.

          Willis also batted fourth in both games, getting a hit in each.

          “We were a little concerned about Coleman in the second game,” Hopkins said. “He was a little tired, but he really came through, did a fantastic job for us.”

          Brodie Chestnutt was solid in the opener with a complete-game, 94-pitch win, giving up four hits and four walks with five strikeouts.

          The third out to end the second game and championship season, a routine grounder to second baseman Christian Davis, ended a fairly staggering day of pitching in a championship series.

          “One unearned run in two championship games,” Hopkins said. “Pretty big.

          “We only threw three pitchers in the playoffs. We knew that they had the ability to be that dominant.”

          The Bears had two complete games, struck out 12 with four walks and one run, unearned. And yet …

          “If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t think they weren’t as sharp as they normally are,” Hopkins said. “I didn’t think they had their ‘A’ stuff. Velocity was down a little with Brodie than it normally is. Coleman was really tired, running out a couple doubles and scoring.

          “We were a little tired. Coleman, early they had a chance to get to him because he was so tired, but he did a really good job just pitching and keeping us in the ballgame after we put up a four-spot.”

          Not dominating, but probably the grittiest and guttiest performances for the pair, particularly considering the stage.

          “By far,” Hopkins said. “And I think that’s a testament to the defense that we played. We didn’t get the strikeouts we like we’ve been getting. Like I said, I didn’t necessarily think they had their ‘A-plus’ stuff, but I’ll tell you what, our defense was light’s out all night.”

          Both games took less than two hours.

Houston County scored six runs in the two games, its lowest consecutive-game total of the year, tying the six runs in the first two games of the semifinal series at Allatoona.

          Willis threw the Bears’ 10th shutout of the season, Chestnutt’s effort the seventh time a team managed only a run.

          Chesnutt got a huge play to his right in the top of the seventh when third baseman Drew Burress dove hard to stop a shot down the line and get the 5-3 out as opposed to Lassiter having the leadoff batter on second. Chestnutt followed a strikeout with a walk, and then got the game-ending fly to right.

          Chestnutt, heading to Florida State, improved to 13-1.

          Lassiter, which got extra-base hits in the first and second innings but came up empty, went up 1-0 in the top of the third on two avoidable errors, a muffed ground single and then pickoff throw to third with a dead-duck runner ending up scoring.

          The Bears tied it in the bottom of the inning on Garrett Hortman’s single, an error, and Treyson Hughes’ RBI single a few batters later.

          The Trojans turned in a base-running error in the fifth when the Bears picked off Parker Hughes between second and third.

          Houston County took the lead in the sixth on Andrew Dunford’s leadoff walk and Willis’ double, the Bears stranding two in the inning.

          But Burress’ defense to open the seventh was followed by Chestnutt closing the door.

          Lassiter’s Ben Norton also went the distance in the loss, with four hits, four strikeouts, and two walks. Both teams stranded six.

          The similarities to the 2014 and 2016 title teams? They’re there, with the offense of 2014 and pitching of 2016.

          “We outscored that (2014) group,” Hopkins said. “Pitching-wise , we were able to match up with (2016). We what you had was really a team that embodied both. Combine both of those, and you’re going to have what we had, and that’s a championship-caliber team.”