It was a tall task for Winston Academy in the final week of the season to have to get wins over one of the best teams in the state in Simpson Academy.
It made it even tougher on the Patriots when a makeup game had to be played in the middle of the week against Park Place. In the end, WA clinched the third spot in the district after getting a victory over Park Place, but came up short in two games against the Cougars to close out the regular season.
“We pitched off. We were in a huge bind because of some rainouts with Park Place and East Rankin that delayed us,” coach Charlie Smith said. “Holder Tidwell had to pitch for us on Friday against Simpson and he gave us five great innings. We had a 3-1 lead in the sixth and things just fell apart. Next thing you know we were down 12-3. It could have been a little more interesting if we could have gotten more runs. I would have pitched it differently.
“We had to win on Tuesday against Park Place to get out of the fourth place spot so we pitched Bryson. We hit the ball well on Thursday but didn’t have the pitching.”
Game one against Simpson last week was one that the Pats would love to have back. WA had a 3-1 lead after scoring a trio of runs in the second inning and the team was holding it until the sixth when everything fell apart. The Cougars scored 11 runs and ran away with the game 12-3.
The Pats had just two hits despite scoring those three early runs and that didn’t help them later in the game. Ben Caperton and Trey Williamson provided the two base knocks. Tidwell threw 5.0 innings, gave up three hits, three runs, one earned, walked two batters and struck out four. After the game got away, Smith let freshman Jayson McMillin get in the game and he performed well over the final 1.1 innings with two hits, one walk, one run and a strikeout.
Smith had to pitch the younger McMillin to preserve his pitching for Wednesday in the makeup game against Park Place. Because of the makeup ball game and the third place spot in the division on the line, Smith threw ace Bryson Wright.
WA never trailed in the game and won 14-3 in six innings as Wright threw all 6.0, gave up three hits, one earned run, two walks and struck out six. The offense pounded out 14 hits this game with 4-for-4 performances from J.T. McGInnis and Max Fulcher, including a double each.
Hayze Gregory and Reed Yates added two hits in the game and two RBI a piece while Gregory had a double. Jett Joiner drove in two runs also.
On Thursday against Simpson, the offense continued its hot streak as the Patriots were ready to fight back. After surrendering four runs in the first frame, WA took a lead in the second with a five-run inning, but Simpson was relentless at the plate.
The Cougars had another run in the second, four in the third and the fifth innings and two in the fourth to push the lead out and win the ball game 15-9. Yates started the game and they got 3.2 innings out of him but Simpson connected on 10 hits and 11 runs. McMillin came in and finished out the game giving up four hits and four runs in 2.1 innings.
It was an impressive offensive display for the Pats, however. The team had 12 hits with Fulcher and Braxton Rone getting three hits each. Rone had two doubles and two RBI while Fulcher drove in a run. Williamson had two hits and two RBI on a double. Yates drove in two runs on one hit.
The Pats are now 19-9 on the season and finished a tough conference slate at 8-6. WA starts the playoffs this week taking on Heritage Academy. Game one was played on Tuesday night and there’s expected to be game two on Thursday in Columbus with an if necessary game following.
“They’re a really good ball club. They came out early in the year when we played them and they didn’t have all of their basketball guys,” Smith said. “They’ve been really, really good since after spring break. They have three quality starters. I don’t know if there’s anybody in 5A that are swinging the bats better than they have 1-9.”
