Gallery by Heather Belcher
Following Tuesday’s victory over PikeView for its fourth win in the last five games, Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said he hoped his team could keep the momentum moving forward.
With the postseason less that two weeks away, the Patriots took another poitive step in the right direction Wednesday.
Trailing Summers County 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third inning, Independence stormed back to take a an 8-4 win over the Bobcats.
“We struggled a little offensively early. The biggest positive I see tonight is we didn’t quit,” Cuthbert said. “When we were struggling, we kept trying. We scratched a run there or two. When they had to make the (pitching) change, we kept fighting and we were able to go through the line-up one time.”
Over four innings Wednesday, Summers County starter Ryan Oliveros had stymied the hot-hitting Patriots.
“I thought the first pitcher, Oliveros, threw really well and kept us off-balance. He threw a ton of strikes tonight,” Cuthbert said.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, with a big sectional clash on the horizon, Oliveros had to be limited in the number of pitches he could throw.
“We felt like we were in control of the game and Ryan was dealing, but we had to cut him off at 75 pitches tonight,” Summers County head coach Stan Unroe said. “We have a couple more big games this week and a huge one on Saturday against James Monroe. We really want to keep what we feel are our two aces available for that game just in case we need them both.”
When the bottom of the sixth inning rolled around, Summers County held a 4-2 lead.
The decisive half-inning started in the best possible way for the home team, but the worst way for the visitors.
Pinch-hitting in the eight-hole, Justin Williams reached on ground ball error and Hunter Milam, pinch-hitting in the nine spot, walked to put runners at first and second with no outs.
A sacrifice bunt from Levi Barnett set the table for Brayden Kiblinger who ripped a single to right field, tying the game at 4-4.
“He has had some bad luck this year. He has actually hit the ball pretty good overall,” Cuthbert said about his senior shortstop. “Average-wise it hasn’t shown sometimes. He has hit line drives to people. Finally he got a few to fall tonight and he played some really solid shortstop too.”
Another ground ball miscue by the Bobcats moved Kiblinger to third where he later scored on a wild pitch.
The Patriots kept the pedal to the metal with a run scoring double from Cole Cunningham and an RBI-single from Orion Wills for a 7-4 lead.
The final Independence run came across on a bases loaded walk to Carter Hajash.
“We had different kids in different spots because we are throwing different kids, trying to keep as many people available as we can for the rest of the week,” Unroe explained. “We made three errors overall and we threw two balls away. We didn’t cover home plate at one point. Just four or five things that are uncharacteristic for us.”
Summers County struck for the first time with two outs in its first at-bat.
Colten Jones gave the Bobcats the early 1-0 lead when he doubled on a 3-2 pitch to the right field fence scoring Brandan Isaac.
Two innings later, Summers again worked some two-out magic which led to a 4-0 advantage.
Isaac reached when he was drilled in the back with a fastball before stealing second and third to move into scoring position. An infield single from Grady Allen kept the rally going, scoring Isaac for a 2-0 lead.
Before Independence could escape the damage, Oliveros and Jake Boone had tossed salt in the wound with RBI- singles.
“That is a quality squad. They are as good as a lot of the teams we have played this year,” Cuthbert said. “They are real aggressive on the bases and I thought they swung the bats well. They made most of the plays in the field too. You do that and you will always have a chance to win games.”
Barnett broke the ice for the Patriots when he singled to open the third and later scored on a wild pitch.
Independence then cut the lead in half in the fifth, but missed an opportunity for a big inning.
Kiblinger doubled to lead-off the inning and took third on a fielding error in center. Independence loaded the bases on two walks, but manged only one run on a sacrifice fly from Orion Wills.
The game clearly took a turn when Oliveros left the mound.
“We went ahead and pulled him,” Unroe said. “I made the decision, but some of my coaches wanted to go for the win. The win is not exactly the important thing. The important thing for us is to get better and playing a team like Independence makes us better.”
“It is a little bit on the coaching staff, but as we tell the players, they have to make plays,” Unroe went on to say. “They have to make them whether they are in their normal position or not. At the end of the day, we are 16-5 and we know we are a good baseball team. We just have to play clean.”
Degan Williams also had a solid outing for Independence going five innings, allowing just two earned runs and striking out eight.
“We are doing a similar thing to what they are doing. We are trying to get guys ready for the next couple of days,” Cuthbert said. “This is like seven games in eight days for us. It gets a little rough with the pitching. Summers ran into that some tonight. That is high school baseball.”
Barnett came on for the final two innings where he surrendered only one hit and kept the game in check until his teammates responded with the big inning.
“Levi has pitched well most of the year, but we have had some tough losses,” Cuthbert said. “We have run into some really good teams along the way. He pitched good against Liberty last Friday.”
Independence hosts regional foe Bluefield Thursday before a sectional showdown Friday at Shady Spring. Summers County travels to Shady Spring Thursday before the big showdown with James Monroe Saturday in Lindside.
