Cubs’ Cobb keys comeback win
- Updated: July 23, 2014
Alexandria’s Dalton Cobb (L) walks through the North dugout before starting Game 1 of Tuesday’s North-South all-star doubleheader in Montgomery.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
MONTGOMERY — Dalton Cobb’s all-star experience Tuesday already was all it was cracked up to be, but it got a whole lot better in his last at-bat.
The incoming Alexandria senior ripped an RBI-triple for his only hit of the night, then scored the tying run in a six-run seventh-inning rally that gave the North a 9-8 win and a split in their doubleheader at Riverwalk Stadium.
The South won the opener 2-1 behind a two-run single by team MVP Chase Smartt of Charles Henderson.
Cobb went 1-for-3 with two walks and the triple in the twin bill, where the batting order went 17 deep in each game and players rotated in the field. He also turned a double play in the infield and stole a base.
“I’d been chasing a couple pitches and got myself out the second at-bat of the first game,” Cobb said explaining his final at-bat. “I was sitting on a good pitch … and hit it.
“You only get two bats a game, so that was rough, but you just forget about what you’ve done wrong and focus on what you’ve done right. I was out here playing baseball.”
And he played a lot of it. He started both games and played four innings in each. He played second, short, third and — for the first in his life — right field.
“He can do it all,” Alexandria coach Andy Shaw said. “He can play anywhere.”
Cobb said it was an “awesome experience” to be part of a comeback like his team put together in the nightcap.
The North trailed 8-3 going into the seventh. Cobb’s RBI triple made it 8-7, and he scored the tying run ahead of Huntsville’s Logan Storey on Carson Cupo’s two-run triple.
“We actually joked around about coming back, doing a dog pile if we came back,” Cobb said. “We came back, but said we’re not doing that.
“You go 0-for-4, 0-for-3, whichever it was … I was saying to (Hewitt-Trussville shortstop) Carter Pharis – he was the same as me — the only thing that would take it away was probably a home run or a triple. That’s what we got, so that made up for it.”
Even before Cobb delivered his triple, Shaw considered his performance “a successful game.”
Sitting in the first row behind the North dugout with Cobb’s father Randy, Shaw watched his player rip a fastball into the cavernous outfield for his big hit. Even his outs were loud – a sharp liner to left in Game 2 and a mile-high pop in the infield in Game 2.
“He’s only struck out twice all summer; he’s got a great eye and … a high baseball IQ,” Shaw said. “He plays the game right. That’s the way baseball is – some days you rip them doubles and some days you walk and help your team stealing bases, making all the plays.
“But he’s always playing hard; that’s what it’s all about. He always plays the game the same way. Success or failure does not affect him. He plays it the right way all the time.”
Al Muskewitz is Content Editor/Senior Writer of East Alabama Sports Today. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com and followed on Twitter @easportstoday1.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login