It’s been 16 years since Winston Academy last celebrated a district championship on a baseball field but Charlie Smith and his boys brought it back last week.
The Patriots and Canton Academy met in a three-game series that would decided the district title and it came down to one game. WA would leave no doubt as the Patriots jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first inning and held on in a 10-6 victory on Saturday to seal the deal.
“It had been a while,” Smith said. “It was big for our team and big for our school to win a district championship and it’s a tribute to the kids. They had a good year and we came in very inexperienced. They’ve gotten a lot better and there’s a lot to look forward to.”
All three games were fairly competitive starting with game one on the road in Canton. The Patriots would fall behind late in the ball game as Canton scored four runs total in the fifth and sixth inning and led 4-3 going into the final frame.
WA came back with three runs in the seventh and held on in the bottom of the frame to take a 6-5 win and get the upper hand in the series.
Despite the six runs scored, offense was at a premium. WA had just four hits with Holder Tidwell getting two of those on two doubles and driving in a couple of runs. 12 walks were a big reason why the Pats were able to win the ball game as they were patient at the plate much of the game and had three walks from Caden Stuart and two each from Jayson McMillin, Owen Woodward and Jonah Hood.
Meanwhile on the Patriots’ mound, there were no walks. Bryson Wright threw 6.2 innings, gave up seven hits, four earned runs and struck out 10 batters. Braxton Rone would come in and get the final out of the inning.
It was tougher for WA pitching on Friday night. The Pats had gotten a 3-2 lead in the second inning but Canton kept scoring. The Panthers would take home an 11-6 lead thanks to five errors on WA.
Reed Yates started the game and threw 3.0 innings giving up three hits, four runs, three walks and striking out four batters while McMillin pitched the final 3.0 and gave up five hits, seven runs and four strikeouts with zero walks.
McMillin and Stuart also had two hits each on the night and Stuart finished with a double and triple.
Saturday set up a rubber match for the title and the Patriots came to play. WA scored eight runs in the first inning, one in the second and another in the fourth as the team built a lead that Canton couldn’t overcome. It led to a 10-6 victory as WA had nine hits to Canton’s seven in the game and took advantage of a relatively clean day defensively with just one error while the Panthers had four errors.
“We beat a real good ball club,” Smith said. “We had a good week, there’s no doubt. I’m not going to say we played above our heads, but we played as well as we could to win a district championship.”
WA (17-8, 9-1 District 3) finished the regular season with a district title but the tough road towards a state championship now begins.
The Pats will have to play Kirk Academy starting next Tuesday and Smith is concerned about the layoff his team will have before they play. He just wants his team playing its best baseball and leaving nothing it all on the field starting next week.
“I’m excited about the playoffs. We have to sit through this and have to wait and play Kirk,” Smith said. “They have a Southern Miss and Ole Miss commitment and they didn’t throw them a lot early in the year but they are two dogs. We’re going to have to have some timely hitting. We’re going to have to keep it between one to two runs and try to win it or hold on to a lead late.”
