Ryan Burt dug his feet in at the plate with one thing in mind Thursday night.
The New Hope Trojans, having loaded the bases in the third inning of a scoreless playoff game, were about to make something happen.
A strike on the first pitch didn’t change that. In fact, it made him more determined.
Burt jumped on a pitch by Amory’s Hunter Jones and sent it headed toward the left field fence. Grand slam? No. But it didn’t miss by much. By the time Amory left fielder Davis Helton had retrieved the ball and thrown it in, Burt was on third base and three Trojans had scored.
It was just the beginning of a 9-0 rout in front of a big home crowd that sent New Hope to its fifth consecutive playoff victory and a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three quarterfinal series against Amory, the same school that produced Mississippi State and Boston Red Sox star Mitch Moreland.
And that was a cool fact which produced a smile by Burt after it was over.
“It was a fun night all around,” he said.
Burt had two triples and a home run in the win. And perhaps the only reason he didn’t deliver another big hit in the sixth inning was because he wasn’t given a decent pitch to hit.
“Ryan had a huge night,” New Hope coach Lee Boyd said.
And after his two-run home run in the fifth inning put New Hope up by seven runs, Burt, a pitcher who was playing on this night at first base, showed his defensive side when he leaped into the air to snag a line drive hit by Amory’s Cooper Jones.
Tyler Murphy added a home run for New Hope in the sixth inning. The Trojans totaled 10 hits and were within a run of ending it in the sixth in a mercy-rule game.
“We came up with some big hits, busted it open a little bit,” Boyd said.
New Hope has scored 67 runs in its last five games.
In the middle of all this offense, almost lost was the pitching performance by Peyton Springfield, a senior. He gave up just one hit, delivering a dominating game that kept the Trojans’ bullpen very quiet.
“It saves your arms,” Boyd said.
And now, Amory hosts New Hope on Friday at 6, needing a win to extend its season. This time, they’ll have to face Burt’s arm as well as his bat. Burt will be the starting pitcher for the Trojans.
Paul Bowker is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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