Gallery by Heather Belcher
Coal City – Missing two first-team all-staters for most of Wednesday evening against Bluefield, Independence asked much of its third first-teamer Atticus Goodson.
He delivered.
The senior hurler pitched six-and-a-third innings, allowing just two runs – neither earned – in a 7-2 win over regional foe Bluefield in Coal City.
With Clay Basham and Michael McKinney, the aforementioned all-staters, both absent due to injuries, Goodson delivered on the mound and at the plate.
He retired the first three Bluefield batters in order before crushing the first pitch he saw for a single. Two batters later McKinney, who started the game before exiting with an injury, drew a walk and both Goodson and McKinney crossed the plate when Carson Brown added to his team-high 27 RBIs with two more.
“I thought our top (of the order) has been pretty good all year,” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “I thought they did real well off the bat and we were able to scratch a run here or there when we needed to. Anytime you can score early that helps things along.”
The hosts turned the pressure up in the second with Dylan Darnell on third and Elijah Farrington on first.
After McKinney exited in the top half of the second following a collision on a stolen base attempt, Cuthbert took advantage with his replacement, Brayden Kiblinger, at the plate with two outs.
He sent Farrington towards second, putting Darnell in motion as well. The double steal proved successful with Darnell scoring and Farrington advancing to second.
Bluefield pitcher Kerry Collins escaped without any further damage but each run made the uphill trek that much harder with Goodson dealing.
The senior allowed one hit through the game’s first five innings with the only two Bluefield runs crossing due to a pair of two-out errors in the sixth inning.
“He pitched really well tonight,” Cuthbert said. “He didn’t waste a lot of pitches and never got himself in too much trouble either. He’s pitched real well all year though. About every time he’s been out there he’s pitched pretty good. That’s the first time we really extended him too. I thought he was just as strong in the last inning as he was in the first inning and on a cold night that’s pretty good.”
Indy padded its lead in the fifth when Carson Brown and Andy Lester reached on a pair of two-out errors in the outfield with both also scoring as a result of errors. Brown crossed when Lester hit a fly ball to right that was misplayed and dropped and Lester’s pinch runner scored after an error at first.
“It didn’t feel like we played like we normally do,” Bluefield coach Jimmy Redmond said. “I don’t know if we were nervous but we just didn’t make plays and we didn’t swing the bat well. You cannot do that against teams at the top of the state. We’re just going to have to go back to work.”
Trailing 5-0, the Bluefield offense found some life in the top of the sixth when Kerry Collins and Ryker Brown reached on the two aforementioned Indy errors, scoring when Ryan Harris hit a single off the leg of Lester at first to make it 5-2. That hit proved to only one of three the Beavers mustered on the day.
“Atticus threw a great game and he’s a really good pitcher,” Bluefield coach Jimmy Redmond said. “I don’t think a lot of us had a plan at the plate which we’re playing in the twilight and seeing that hard of pitching. But you know they’re in the same box we are. I don’t think we swung the bat well like they did. They put the ball in play. We made some errors and I don’t know how many put-outs we had to back our pitching. But they backed their pitching. They put the ball in play and we didn’t look good at the plate tonight.”
The sixth-inning errors cost Goodson the opportunity to toss a complete game but J.D. Monroe secured the final two outs for the Patriots to ensure the victory.
“We knew before the game we’d be without Clay,” Cuthbert said. “The incident with Michael – it’s good that we have kids that are ready and they did what they could. It didn’t really hurt us and I thought they all stepped up in tough situations.”
Independence improves to 15-2 and will travel to Oak Hill on Monday while Bluefield drops to 11-4.
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B: 000 002 0 – 2 3 3
I: 210 022 – 7 6 2
Pitching and Catching – B: Kerry Collins (2 IP), Ryker Brown (2.2 IP), Bryson Redmond (1.1 IP) and Bryson Redmond, Hunter Harmon; I: Atticus Goodson (6.1 IP), J.D. Monroe (0.2 IP) and David Shufflebarger. WP: Goodson, LP: Collins.
Hitting – B: Redmond 1-4 (2B), Collins 1-3, Harris 1-2 (2 RBI); I: Goodson 1-2 (2 HBP), Brown 1-3 (2 RBI), Lester 2-4 (2B, 2 RBI), Darnell 1-3, Sipes 1-3.
