At least for a few hours, Saturday was a chance for people of Eupora, Scott Central and Nettleton to escape the uncertain times ahead in the world.
The Eagles hosted a round robin baseball tournament against those teams that, when scheduled, wasn’t thought to have been all that different than any other weekend. On Saturday, in what might have represented some of the final athletic events in the state until further notice, the Eagles split a pair of games.
Following a 7-2 loss to Nettleton earlier in the day, the Eagles fought back resiliently as they didn’t want to go into the extended break on a losing note. Reed Hale threw 5.1 scoreless innings and Eupora got some timely runs late in the ball game to knock off the Scott Central Rebels 3-1.
It became the final day of high school baseball in the state for the foreseeable future as the Mississippi HIgh School Activities Association cancelled sports inside the state until at least March 29. Saturday, however, was a fun day of competition for head coach Cole McBride as he was happy with how things turned out at the close of the afternoon.
“It was big to be able to bounce back after the first game and get the win,” head coach Cole McBride said. “Reed Hale pitched well. We got some stuff done getting some key hits at times and got some runners in. I’ll take it.”
Hale came out of the gates and got around a hit batter and a single to get out of the first inning. He came back and threw three-straight perfect frames and went 5.1 with eight strikeouts. At one point, Hale struck out five of the six batters he faced in the Scott Central lineup.
The junior was just trying to get his team back in the win column with uncertainty ahead. He was playing the game like it could be the last of the season for the Eagles. As were the rest of his teammates.
“I just wanted to come in, throw some strikes and let my defense worked for me and they did their job,” Hale said. “We just wanted to get back out there and try to do our best to bounce back and that’s exactly what we did.”
Because of Hale and Carter May who followed, there wasn’t much that the Eagles had to do at the plate. They had six hits offensively but came up with big moments to propel them to the win column.
The first came in the third inning when May doubled to left field with two outs and Hale brought him home to make it 1-0. In the fifth, Eupora got to get some things done on the base paths as they reached on an error to lead things off and then Ty Murphy and May brought in runs on fly outs to make it 3-0.
The Rebels got a run on the board in the seventh with a walk and two hits cutting into the lead with one out, but they got out of the trouble.
Eupora did get four games in during spring break as they beat Kosciusko 3-2 and lost to Pearl 11-4 as they played four games in three days to finish up the break.
For a team that won nine games all of last year, Eupora has started 6-5 going into Class 2A, Region 2 play and has been far more competitive this season. They’re frustrated that they’ll have at least a week off from competition, but McBride is also concerned that they might not finish this year out which seems to be the case for sports around the country in college and professional ranks.
He’ll continue to coach them how he can until he’s told otherwise.
“It’s rough. I’m not going to lie,” McBride said of the suspension of sports. “I know the sacrifices they’ve made and the work they’ve put in. I understand it’s all for the greater good, but from a coaching standpoint, to see how much work they’ve put in, it’s rough. I refuse to believe that this is it. Until someone comes up and says it’s done, it’s just a week or two weeks long in my mind.”
