Gallery by Tina Laney
Shady Spring senior Jake Meadows is no stranger to postseason pitching gems.
Thursday night in the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 opener between the Tigers and Independence at Linda K. Epling Stadium, the Glenville State signee was once again rock solid on the hill.
On this night, however, the guy across the way was just a tad bit better.
Firing a three-hit shutout and driving in the only run of the night, Cole Cunningham guided the Patriots to a 1-0 win over their county rival.
Independence now travels to Nicholas County Friday. The winner moves on to the championship round, next week. Shady Spring will host Liberty Friday in an elimination game.
“It was a really good ball game. Both pitchers pitched really well,” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “We scratched (out) a run. We should have scored another run, but when you have as many young kids as I have, they are going to (mess) up from time-to time. We got a hit when we needed to and we made some really nice defensive plays when we needed to as well.”
With Meadows keeping Independence at bay early, the Tigers had their chances, but could never get the much needed timely hit.
Jalon Bailey hit a one-out single in his opening at-bat, but was left stranded at first.
A pair of two-out walks in the second gave the Tigers a serious threat, but a strikeout from Cunningham kept Shady scoreless.
“I thought that was big because he got the nine-hitter out to end the inning,” Cuthbert said. “Jake didn’t get to come up and when he did, he didn’t have any people on base.”
Reid Warden collected the initial hit of the game for the Patriots in the third when his one-out fly ball, which was moved by the wind, dropped behind second base.
Two straight fly balls kept the game scoreless through three innings.
Brayden Kiblinger opened the fourth inning with a single and took third base on a hit from Blake Stratton, giving Indy its best scoring threat of the night.
However, before Cunningham made the crucial blow of the game, courtesy runner Carter Hajash was nailed by Shady catcher Brody Seabolt trying to steal second.
The joy for Shady was short lived when Cunningham lifted a shot that appeared destined to clear the right field fence.
Instead, Cunningham’s blast ricocheted off of the wall for the first triple of his high school career.
“I just trust in myself. See ball, hit ball. Wherever it is pitched, hit it,” Cunningham said. “The greatest advice I got from coach.”
The RBI was his 47th of the year, giving him nine straight games producing a run at the dish.
“He has had a heck of an offensive year. If we were playing at their place or our place he would have hit another home run,” Cuthbert said. “Him and Blake (Stratton) together is how we manufacture a lot of runs.”
The Tigers had two golden opportunities to score in the final two innings, but could not break through.
In the sixth, Meadows beat out an infield single on a bang-bang play and moved to second via a sacrifice bunt from Bailey.
Seabolt then ripped a liner up the middle that would have easily scored the speedy Meadows.
The whole complexion of the game changed on a dime when Indy second baseman Micah Cuthbert went full extension for a diving catch. Gathering himself quickly, Cuthbert flipped the ball to Kiblinger at second for the inning-ending double play.
“It saved a run and it got us out of the inning. It was a chance for them to have a big inning,” Coach Cuthbert said. “Sometimes that can be a morale killer. (Micah) made a nice play.”
Appearing to have the tying run in hand, Shady Spring head coach Jordan Meadows was left frustrated.
“We bunted him over and Brody hits a line drive,” Meadows said. “Great play by him. It was a hell of a play.”
Aiden Calvert gave the Tigers life in the final at-bat when he hit a shot that turned the center-fielder who could not make the play.
Playing on an injured ankle, Calvert went limping into second with a one-out double.
“Calvert with a sprained ankle. That is a standup triple on any normal day and he gets a double,” Meadows said. “That is how it goes. That is baseball.”
A walk to Aiden Brown was followed by a ground ball out from Sam Barnett which moved the runners up one base.
“I just ask (Cole) if he was OK and went over defense a little bit. Sometimes when you do it, it is like a basketball time out,” Cuthbert said of his only trip to the mound Thursday. “We tried to break the momentum a little bit. It was his game to win or lose. He responded when he needed to.”
With the tying and go-ahead run in scoring position, Cunningham recorded his eighth strike out of the night to seal the win.
Attacking hitters a little differently Thursday, the big lefty baffled Shady most of the night with his bender.
“That curveball, I could throw it wherever I wanted. Blake helped me out on the frame a bunch. We got those calls and I just put my trust in my teammates,” Cunningham said. “When you have that much trust in your own team, you just throw it anywhere. You know it is going to be caught for an out. I do my job and they do theirs. There is nothing to worry about.”
Cuthbert talked about the performance of his junior hurler.
“Cole pitched really well. He was very economical today. I don’t know if he hit a hundred pitches,” Cuthbert said after the game. “Might have been close, but he threw a lot of strikes and they made plays for him. When pitchers throw strikes, the defense plays better for him. They don’t go to sleep.”
On the Shady side, Meadows surrendered only six hits and just the one run.
“With zero runs, we didn’t help our pitcher out. Jake throws a gem. Cole hits it to the fence and they end up scoring one run,” Meadows said. “We have to execute. We had guys on first and second. We had guys on second and third. You have to find a way to get that hit and get some momentum.”
The Tigers rallied to win the sectional title after a loss in round two last year. Losing in round one makes the journey a little tougher, but Meadows is not throwing in the towel.
“Sectional game. We live to see tomorrow and play Liberty tomorrow,” Meadows explained. “Maybe see Indy or Nicholas on Saturday. We can’t take (Liberty) lightly. We were down 5-4 to them in the regular season.”
