AMORY — From the bottom of the order, Seth Brown has the Caledonia High School baseball team on top.
Brown’s RBI single in the top of the ninth inning Thursday gave Caledonia a 2-1 win against Amory in Game 1 of the Mississippi High School Activities Association second-round best-of-three Class 4A playoff series.
“I’ve got to thank my teammates,” Brown said. “They cheered me on. They got on base. If Jared (Reed-Wood) doesn’t get on base, we don’t score.”
Brown’s two-out hit off Austin Grubbs provided the game’s only earned run. It was a timely hit Amory couldn’t find, as the Panthers left 12 men on base.
In only his 55th plate appearance of the year, Reed-Wood came in to pinch hit with one out. He walked to set up Brown’s heroics.
Both starting pitchers flirted with complete-game wins. Caledonia starter Spencer Unruh went 6 1/3 and allowed six hits. Amory starter Ryan Morgan allowed four hits. The first run didn’t score until the fifth.
Game 2’s starters are scheduled to be Amory’s Aubrey Gillentine and Caledonia’s Zach O’Neil.
“You’ve got to hit with runners in scoring position,” Amory coach Chad Williams said. “We didn’t do it and they did.”
Jorden Hollowell earned the win, throwing the final 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. The Confederates’ top arm threw for the first time in a month after taking time off to recover from tendinitis. He likely would be the Game 3 starter.
Amory had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Morgan and Drake Wallace singled and Hunter Lockhart walked. Caledonia went to Hollowell, who struck out Gillentine and pinch hitter Bryson Wiggington.
Gillentine thought he was hit in the hand by Hollowell’s first pitch but the plate umpire ruled the ball hit the bat.
Caledonia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Beau Bates walked and scored on a throwing error on three-hole hitter Jantsen Glasgow’s potential double-play grounder. Caledonia left two stranded thanks to a double play that first baseman Gunnar Hall dug from the dirt.
Amory tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. After Stan Ostrowski walked, Jackson Williams laid down a bunt that Unruh fielded. His throw to second was mishandled and went into center field as pinch runner Wiggington went to third. Wiggington scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
“If we don’t throw in the dirt, we win 1-0, but if they don’t throw it away, they beat us 1-0,” Caledonia coach John Wilson said. “It’s just a good ballgame. I’m just happy.”
Amory ended the inning as Williams was thrown out trying to take third on a walk by Jake Kirkpatrick.
Amory stranded two in the bottom of the first after leadoff singles from Gillentine and Ostrowski.
Amory led off the first three innings with singles. It wasted a scoring chance in the third when Grubbs was thrown out at home. He singled to open the inning and stole third.
“Ifs and buts,” Chad Williams said. “Main thing is their pitcher did a good job, kept us off balance a good bit. They came through when they needed to, and they found a way to win and we didn’t.”
Caledonia had a chance to break it open in the fifth. After back-to-back singles by Brown and Logan Suggs, they were stranded when right fielder Jake Kirkpatrick ran a long way to get a pop from Glasgow.
The Confederates had a chance to take a 2-0 lead in the next inning. After Cameron Allsup walked, Unruh doubled to the wall. Wallace ran it down and fired to Grubbs, who sent the relay with time to spare to Lockhart at the plate to get Allsup.
Caledonia was in the same situation in the first round last season, beating Itawamba Agricultural High in 12 innings before losing the last two in the series by a combined margin of 22-0.
“We can’t let that happen this year,” Wilson said.
n New Hope 1, Lewisburg 0: At Lewisburg, Noah Brock pitched a complete-game three-hitter Thursday night to lead the Trojans (19-10) in Game 1 of their MHSAA second-round best-of-three Class 5A playoff series.
Game 2 will be at 7 p.m. Saturday in Columbus.
New Hope, which had only three hits, scored in the third. Alex Adair walked, took second base on a ball in the dirt, and scored on a single by Nick Sims. Parker Lane and Shay Boyd had the Trojans’ other hits.
n Magnolia Heights 3, Heritage Academy 1: Ladd Chain went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI Thursday night, but the Patriots (17-8) dropped one of their final games prior to kicking off the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA playoffs next week.
Brandon Jones, Tyler Anderson, Dylan Barker, and Seth Harris had hits for Heritage Academy. Ethan Loreno scored the only run.
Logan Sneed and Barker pitched three innings apiece. Sneed allowed two hits, an unearned run), and walked one. He struck out two. Barker allowed three hits and two runs.
n Canton Academy 4-18, Oak Hill Academy 1-1: At Canton, the Panthers used a no-hitter by Brett Lovelace in Game 2 and an 11-strikeout effort from Paco Bello in Game 3 to clinch their MAIS Class AA playoff series.
Lovelace walked two and struck out 13 to help Canton Academy avenge an 8-1 loss to Oak Hill Academy on Tuesday. He also had a home run and three RBIs.
In Game 3, Bello went six innings to get the victory. He and Zach Ladner also had three hits, as the Panthers scored six runs in the second and seven in the third.
Lovelace added two hits and three RBIs.
Softball
n Neshoba Central 7, New Hope 0: At Philadelphia, Aspen Wesley pitched a complete-game two-hitter Thursday to lead the reigning MHSAA Class 5A fast-pitch state champions past the Lady Trojans.
Wesley had a two-run triple in a five-run fifth that helped Neshoba Central pull away. Madalyn McMahon added a double and an RBI in the fourth.
n Caledonia 16, Cleveland 0: At Cleveland, Carlee Dale allowed six hits and struck out six to lead the Lady Confederates (14-13) to a sweep of their Class 4A second-round playoff series.
Tori Brooks pitched the seventh to wrap up the victory.
Landri Brown was 5-for-5 with a double and three RBIs, Hope Harbin was 5-for-6 with two RBIs, Cassie Obman was 4-for-6 with a triple, a home run, and three RBIs, Stephanie Wilkes was 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, and three RBIs, Dale was 4-for-5, Gracie McCleskey was 2-for-6 with a triple, Lauren Duckworth was 3-for-5 with a double, Riley Huckaby was 2-for-5, and Makayla Taylor was 1-for-5.
Caledonia will face Region 4 rival West Lauderdale, which beat Corinth 12-3 in Game 2 of its series Thursday.
Caledonia will play host to West Lauderdale at 6 p.m. Monday in Game 1 of the third-round best-of-three series.
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