FULTON — “It wasn’t pretty.”
Those were Caledonia High School baseball coach John Wilson’s words as he watched his team struggle to be patient at the plate in a game two loss to Itawamba Agricultural High on Saturday.
Those struggles carried over to the first few innings of a win-or-go-home game three in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State playoff series.
But the Confederates found the spark they needed just in time to keep their season alive.
Buoyed by another strong pitching performance by Cody Brown, Caledonia scored two runs in the fifth inning to tie the game and then tacked on three more in the eighth inning to take a 5-2 victory and win the series.
Caledonia will advance to play Cleveland on Thursday at a time to be determined. It will return home to play host to game two of the best-of-three series Friday. The if-needed third game will be Saturday back in Cleveland.
Blake Burke had two hits and an RBI, Cody Allsup had three hits, including a two-run double in the top of the eighth, Ryan Unruh had a hit and an RBI, Jeremy Reed-Wood had a hit and an RBI, Jarred Studdard had two hits, and Luke Eads had a hit in the eighth to spark the rally.
Brown threw 89 pitched in the complete-game effort. H allowed three hits, one walk, zero earned runs, and struck out five.
The pitching performance was one of three dominant efforts in the series. On Friday, Allsup pitched a complete-game two-hitter in a 2-0 victory. In game two, Brandon Darling gave up four hits (one earned run) and struck out four in a complete-game effort in a 3-0 loss.
“We threw strikes,” Wilson said. “All of them threw between 65 and 70 percent strikes, which is what we shoot for.”
In game one, Burke had a hit and scored a run and Trey Lancaster had a hit and two RBIs. Both of the runs came in the first. Allsup and Reed-Wood had hits, while Nathan Kendrick had two hits.
Allsup walked four and struck out six to give Caledonia the series lead.
Itawamba evened the series with the help of two unearned runs in game two. Caledonia had only three hits — two by Burke and one by Lancaster — as Wilson said his team was hitting the ball hard but right at the Indians. He said the team never lost its focus, though, and benefited from a true team effort in which quite a few players contributed.
“As long as we keep pitching and playing defense we have a chance against everybody we play,” Wilson said.
Softball
n Pontotoc 3, Caledonia 1: At Pontotoc, Cate Sansing had the only hit for the Lady Confederates in their loss in game one of the best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State playoff series.
Caledonia will try to rebound at 5 p.m. Monday in game two. An if-needed game will follow.
The Lady Confederates committed two of their three errors in the first inning that helped Pontotoc score two runs. Cara Hopper allowed four hits and walked one with 10 strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
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