KANNAPOLIS – If you told folks that Lexington’s 16-5 American Legion win over
Kannapolis on Tuesday night was decided by one ground ball – after they stopped
laughing, they’d probably wrap you in a straightjacket and toss you in a rubber cell.
But that’s exactly
what happened. And one little ground ball is the reason that fifth-seeded Lexington now
leads the first-round Southern Division of Area III playoff series by a 2-1 margin over
fourth-seeded Kannapolis.
That sixth-inning ground ball
changed the course of the game, and in all likelihood this series. Lexington will now have
a chance to close out the series at home tonight. If Lexington wins, it will advance to
face top-seeded Rowan County, which finished off a sweep of No. 8 seed Mocksville on
Wednesday night. If Kannapolis wins, the teams will head back to Veterans Field for Game 5
on Friday night.
Lexington used the long ball to
break on top. Scott Wilson belted a three-run homer off Kannapolis starter Chad Tuttle in
the first inning. Then Patrick Truluck took Tuttle deep in the second for a 4-0 lead.
Lin Goodman’s sacrifice fly
got Kannapolis on the board in the third, and then the momentum appeared to switch jerseys
in the top of the fourth when Kannapolis third baseman Zach Gurley started a triple play
on a crisp one-hopper off the bat of Truluck.
Gurley stayed on a roll by sending
a double to the right-center field fence in the bottom of the inning with the bases full
to tie the game at 4.
Then came the fateful sixth.
The first two Lexington batters in
the inning singled off Tuttle, who had settled down and was pitching well.
‘‘Both those hits were
right off the fists,’’ sighed Kannapolis coach Joe Hubbard.
Hubbard lifted Tuttle in favor of
reliever Justin Bonds, but Bonds was promptly greeted with yet another fister to load the
bases. There were still no outs.
That left Hubbard with a tough
decision. Should he keep the middle infield back for a double play or bring them in for a
play at the plate? He opted to bring his infield in.
‘‘I thought he did the
right thing,’’ said Lexington coach Tom McCarthy. ‘‘Even if you do get
a double play there with the infield back, you’re gonna give up that go-ahead
run.’’
The critical batter was Chase
Younts, who smashed a ball directly at Kannapolis second baseman Aaron Honeycutt. If
Honeycutt had been playing back, it would have been a routine double play ball. A run
would have scored, but a big inning would have been avoided. Playing in, however, the ball
got to Honeycutt in a huge hurry. He couldn’t handle it, the go-ahead run scored and
all hands were safe. And the game was never the same.
‘‘We got the ground ball
we wanted,’’ said Hubbard. ‘‘We just didn’t play it well. We
didn’t make the play we had to.’’
Jason Phillips followed by rapping
into a force at home for the first out, but Truluck upped Lexington’s lead to 6-4
with a groundout to the right side. Then, after Blake Smith was hit in the head by a pitch
to reload the bases, No. 9 batter Ashley Miller – a part-time player – creamed a
clutch, bases-clearing double to give Lexington a 9-4 lead.
From there, a game that had been a
tightly-played masterpiece through five innings, disintegrated. It was like someone
suddenly drew horns and a mustache on the Mona Lisa.
Lexington beat Kannapolis’
thin pen to a pulp over the final three innings, as a game which had seen the first five
innings fly by in little over an hour, ultimately dragged past the three-hour mark.
Phillips had most of the late fun
– rapping a two-run double in the seventh, and then blasting a grand slam in the
ninth.
That meant six RBIs in two swings
for Phillips, which is more run-production than the Kannapolis team mustered over nine
innings against crafty Lexington southpaw Younts.
‘‘We didn’t swing
the sticks,’’ said Hubbard. ‘‘It was a strange game. Things are going
our way. It looks like we’ve got the momentum, and then it all changes.’’
It was a weird game, but then,
this whole series has been strange. Lexington and Kannapolis have played five times this
season (counting their split in the regular season) and the home team hasn’t won a
game yet.
So maybe Kannapolis evens things
up tonight at Holt-Moffitt Field where young Josh Lee will oppose Lexington’s top
pitcher Brandon Russell, who baffled Kannapolis in Game 1 of the playoffs.
‘‘We’ll try to get
our kids psyched,’’ said McCarthy. ‘‘In the back of our their minds
they know they haven’t beaten Kannapolis at home. And Kannapolis is a tough bunch. It
won’t be an easy one.’’
NOTES: Hubbard said the
triple play was the first one he’d been involved in. ... Gurley drove in four of
Kannapolis’ five runs. .. Lexington pounded out 17 hits, with every starter getting
at least one, and seven players getting multiple safeties. ... Kannapolis won
Tuesday’s game at Lexington 9-2 behind the pitching of Bobby Helms and Goodman’s
grand slam. |
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