UNIONVILLE — Central Cabarrus center fielder Josh Doughty was the only person in the park who wasn’t absolutely certain the baseball was gone.
Central led East Rowan 5-4 in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament championship game in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs and one on, Viking lefty Thomas Wilson hung a curveball to Drew Davis — the only bad pitch he threw in three innings of work.
The sound generated by the collision of Davis’ arcing bat with that floating baseball was a Fourth-of-July level explosion. Wilson grimaced. Davis smiled. The East dugout rose as one, arms lifted in triumph. East fans, lurching forward from bleacher seats and lawn chairs, whooped. Central coach Bryan Tyson buried his head in his hands.
“I didn’t even get up off my stool,” said Tyson. “Davis hit it a mile. I knew it was out.”
But it wasn’t.
Somewhere out there among rural Unionville’s tomato plants— 380 or so feet from home plate — Doughty chased the ball down, leaped and caught it against the fence. Central still had the lead.
Doughty’s catch was the obvious play of the day as the Vikings (22-3) beat the Mustangs 6-4.
“That ball just died those last 10 feet,” marveled Tyson. “Sometimes you’ll see ’em die like that at Staton Field.”
Doughty said he raced down a hill and through a ditch to make his game-turning grab.
“Fortunately, we’d played here the day before and I’d gotten used to the field,” said Doughty. “I got back there and judged where the fence was. Then I jumped up and got it.”
It was top-seeded Central’s third close win over second-seeded East (17-8) — sweet revenge for the Mustangs beating the Vikes three times last season, including an 8-7 thriller in the tourney championship game.
“Three games with them and we didn’t get one break,” groaned East coach Jeff Safrit. “Not one.”
Both teams had already wrapped up home games for Tuesday’s first round of the 3A state playoffs, so no one was surprised that Safrit and Tyson kept downplaying the marquee matchup. Tyson said he just wanted to get ready for the playoffs and was gonna pitch “staff.”
Safrit didn’t mention the word “championship” all week. Just kept saying his goal was to play three games in the tournament to get ready for the important stuff.
“Both of us said we were gonna relax and have a little fun,” chuckled Tyson, who is one of Safrit’s closest friends in the coaching fraternity. “But then that first pitch gets thrown and we go to war.”
In terms of intensity, East-Central is usually SPC baseball’s answer to Central-West Rowan basketball or A.L. Brown-Concord football. But, this time, for a while at least, things were loose. East put together a 3-1 lead after two-out RBIs by Adam Cornelius and Cal Hayes Jr. in the second and Moose Misenheimer’s sac fly in the third. Central tied it in the bottom of the third, then went up 5-3 in the fourth with a boost from some uncharacteristically shaky East defense behind hurler Jeremy Teague.
“We made some mistakes, gave ‘em a few runs,” sighed Safrit.
The breezy atmosphere vanished in the top of the fifth. The rest of the contest was played with clenched teeth and with fans bellowing on every ball and strike— just like East-Central’s supposed to be.
East put the first three men on in the fifth with a Spencer Steedley single, an error and a walk. That’s when Tyson patted Josh “Goose”Fregosi, who had moved from his usual first base spot to take the mound for his pitching-short team, on the rump, and handed the ball to Wilson.
If this had been an Old West poker game, this was Tyson running out of chips and tossing his pocket watch, guns and 10-gallon hat into the pot to call the hand. Wilson had thrown 136 struggling pitches in a first-round win over Northwest Cabarrus three days earlier. Wilson also figures to start Tuesday’s playoff game. Wilson’s appearance meant Tyson was deadly serious about winning the game and the tournament.
“Josh did a great job —had a nasty changeup,” said Tyson. “But Thomas would have thrown some bullpen today, anyway, and, I mean, he was just beggin’ me. He was chomping at the bit by the third inning. He’s a warrior and he wanted it. I told him if we got in a big enough jam, I might get him in there for a few pitches.”
There are no bigger jams than bases loaded, no outs. Wilson got the Vikes out of that mess — fanning Bobby Parnell, Misenheimer and Aaron Safrit in short order.
And then a “few” pitches for Wilson turned into quite a few.
Wilson came back out for the sixth and whiffed two prior to Davis’ long drive, then erased Steedley, Nick Lefko and Parnell on strikes in the seventh to end it. Wilson recorded eight Ks out of nine outs. The senior was on and his reputation helped him get the call on every borderline pitch. That combination gave the Mustangs — with the exception of that one mistake that Davis mashed — little chance.
“Wilson’s a very good pitcher,” said Safrit. “Some of our guys were overmatched.”
“I wanted it bad. I had my stuff and was really hyped to get out there,” said Wilson.
He got out there and Central got the game.
Tyson won’t know if his gamble was worth it until he sees how it affects his ace next week, but there was little doubt Central felt it was worth whatever it took last night. A smiling Wilson cradled the tournament championship trophy and toted it around, asking each of his teammates, in turn, if they wanted to hold it for a little while.
It was an offer none of them refused. Central has 10 seniors and none wanted to lose that last game with East — unless, of course, the teams barge into each other again in the playoffs.
“East,” said Doughty, “is always the big challenge. To beat them three times feels great. I’m proud of Goose and proud of the way we hit the ball.”
“When it’s East and Central, don’t get up to buy a hot dog,” grinned Tyson as he headed for the bus. “If you do, you’ll miss something.”
The latest installment in the rivalry was no exception.
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Contact Mike London at mlondon@salisburypost.com or at 704-797-4259.
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