Gallery by Tina Laney
The bats for defending Class AA Region 3 champion Independence have been on fire in the early part of the baseball season.
Monday night against county rival Shady Spring, the Patriots turned the flame up even higher.
Pounding out 14 hits, including four home runs, the Patriots hammered the home-standing Tigers 20-5 in their first regular-season meeting.
“I thought one thing that we did well tonight, even when we got out, was we extended at-bats. We made them go deep in counts and were real selective,” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “When we got two strikes, I thought we battled. When we got good pitches, we hit the ball real well. We had a good offensive night and I thought we played well right out of the gate.”
Atticus Goodson opened the game with a bunt single and later scored on a fielder’s choice from Michael McKinney.
The Kennedy Award winner on the gridiron gave the Patriots a 3-0 lead an inning later when he hit a frozen rope that cleared the fence in left centerfield for a two-run home run.
With Shady starter Alex Johnston struggling to find the strike zone, a pair of walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases for the Patriots with one out.
“Early one we were relying on Alex and it wasn’t the normal Alex tonight. When we pulled him the fireworks started. Give credit to them,” Shady Spring head coach Jordan Meadows said. “They are a good hitting team. We had some errors and a walk that created an RBI situation for Atticus which kind of crushed us early.”
David Young came on and recorded a crucial strikeout and appeared to have worked Shady out of the jam when a ball was popped up on the infield in foul territory.
The routine play was not exactly routine under the breezy conditions and although the ball was played in foul ground, the failed attempt landed in fair territory.
Running on the play, Independence scored two more runs for a 5-0 lead.
After sending nine batters to the plate in the second inning, the Patriots duplicated that feat in the third inning.
A pair of singles from J.D. Monroe and Goodson set the table for the No. 2 hitter, Elijah Farrington. The senior right fielder rode a high fastball over the centerfield fence for a three-run blast.
“He has been killing the ball. He has hit it pretty hard every game,” Cuthbert said. “We didn’t know about moving him up because he has hit (ninth) for us. We thought he might be more comfortable, but so far he done well.”
McKinney followed Farrington with a solo homer to give Independence a 9-0 lead.
With the game slipping away, the home team showed some life in the bottom of the inning thanks to some struggles on the mound by Indy starter Tanner Sipes.
A hit batsman and double from Tyler Mackey was followed by a walk to load the bases. Sipes reached back for a crucial strikeout, but when a curveball got loose and hit Josh Lovell, the first run came across for the Tigers.
“It’s hard sometimes pitching games like that to stay totally focused, but that is one thing we have to work on. We haven’t been out on the mound a whole lot,” Cuthbert said. “It was only our fourth game and only Tanner’s second time on the mound. Until we get playing consistently, pitching will be a struggle.”
Singles from Young and Evan Belcher along with a fielder’s choice grounder from Aden Seabolt helped Shady cut the Indy lead back to 9-4 after three innings.
The Patriots exploded for the third straight inning and squelched Shady’s momentum.
A lead-off single from Monroe was followed by a double from Dylan Darnell and a walk to Goodson which loaed the bases.
Farrington worked a walk to score the first run of the inning before McKinney lifted a blast deep to right for a grand slam and a 14-4 lead.
“I just look to go to right-center and keep the ball in the middle of the field. I was seeing it well tonight and made a couple of good swings,” McKinney said. “I was looking fastball. I don’t get many fastballs around here anymore, so it’s nice when I get one.”
Independence put the exclamation point on the win by scoring six runs on six hits in the fifth inning to secure the victory.
“We have been fortunate so far. If somebody has had a bad night, somebody else has stepped up. That is one nice thing when you have an experienced team,” Cuthbert said. “It’s early and theses are all glorified practices. To hit the ball like we have, especially against the harder throwers, we have done a good job so far.”
The setback for the Tigers was their first loss of the season.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call. In my time here I don’t think I have seen a loss like this at Shady,” Meadows said. “It is a wake-up call, but I have the utmost confidence in my team that when May rolls around, we will be ready to play.”
