A real washout
- Updated: March 31, 2017
Choccolocco Park Spring Break Experience: Ohatchee takes lead, but loses it — and game — to the weather
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD – The Ohatchee Indians have played more weird baseball games this season than the rules ought to allow, and they added another one Thursday.
The Indians lost a no-hitter they threw Wednesday. They’ve won a 39-run windblown slugfest. They’ve lost a big lead giving up a big inning in the seventh.
Thursday, they rallied in the visitors’ seventh inning to take the lead on Cleburne County, but lost the inning, the lead and the game 7-5 when the game was called due to weather and reverted to the previous full inning.
With both teams returning to Choccolocco Park Friday for games, they looked into the possibility of resuming play, but once the umps waved it off, it was over.
“I’m just glad we came back right there; in the kids’ minds we won 8-7,” Ohatchee coach Blake Jennings said. “We’ve had five games we lost by one run and that’s huge for us to get over that hump now going into the area play next week against Weaver, which is our last area series. The biggest two games of the year.”
What wasn’t lost was Ohatchee senior Jaylon Jenkins’ fifth home run of the season leading off the fifth inning. He crushed a curveball more than 360 feet over the left-field fence. It gave the Indians a 4-3 lead.
It was only the fourth ball hit out of the Signature Field in a high school game. Oxford’s Nate Lloyd has hit two out of the park.
“I knew I could (hit one out),” Jenkins said. “He hanged it and I banged it. Everybody said it was going to be a stroke, but I knew it was possible.”
“He crushed it,” Jennings said. “He hit it and I thought wow. We’ve been asking Jaylon to make everything simple at the plate … and the past few games he started making everything more simple and he’s really hitting the ball.”
The lead Jenkins gave them didn’t last long. The Tigers’ first seven batters in the bottom of the inning reached base and four scored on a bases-loaded walk and three straight bases-loaded singles.
The Indians scored three runs in the top of the seventh on only one hit to retake the lead. The weather hit after they took an 8-7 lead with one out.
Doing the things it took to rally in the seventh superseded the loss “in a way,” Jennings said.
“You can’t do nothing about Mother Nature, but I’m proud of my kids for fighting, I know that,” he said. “They fought and came back and did what we wanted them to do, but the Good Lord didn’t want it to happen today. As far as they know, they won.”
Cleburne County 7, Ohatchee 5
Ohatchee 021 011 (3) — 5 4 1
Cleburne Co. 000 340 — — 7 12 8
WP: Swafford. LP: Noah. 2B: Jenkins (O), Tucker (O). HR: Jenkins (O). Hits – Ohatchee: Jenkins 2, Sellers, Tucker; Cleburne County: Swafford 3, Dunston, Gaines 2, Benefield, Houston, Smith 2, Humphries 2. RBIs – Ohatchee: Jenkins, Sellers, Tucker, Alward; Cleburne County: Swafford 2, Dunston, Gaines 2, Hicks.
Etowah 6, Piedmont 3: Eli Dunn gave up five hits in 4 1-3 innings and delivered a two-run single in a four-run second inning that gave the sixth-ranked Blue Devils control of the game. Derrick Baer and Mason Mohon, both of whom pitched for Piedmont, each had two hits for the Bulldogs.
Piedmont 12, Cedar Bluff 0: Taylor Morrow and Derrick Baer combined to one-hit the top-ranked team in Class 1A on a total of 68 pitches; the only hit was Dakota Dobbins’ one-out single in the first inning. Morrow (2-for-4) and Easton Kirk (3-for-4) both hit two-run homers for the Bulldogs. Taylor Hayes went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Etowah 6, Piedmont 3
Etowah 040 010 1 — 6 8 0
Piedmont 100 010 1 — 3 7 4
WP: Dunn. LP: Mohon. 2B: Baer (P). Hits – Etowah: Dunn 2, Parrish, Bobo, Runyan, Rutledge, Young, Colegrove; Piedmont: Hayes, Kirk, Baer 2, Mohon 2, Rogers. RBIs – Etowah: Dunn 2, Parrish, Bobo; Piedmont: Hayes, Kirk, Pruitt.
Piedmont 12, Cedar Bluff 0
Piedmont 012 603 0 — 12 14 1
Cedar Bluff 000 000 x — 0 1 0
WP: Morrow. LP: Clifton. 2B: Kirk 2 (P). HR: Morrow (P), Kirk (P). Hits – Piedmont: Hayes 3, Kirk 3, Morrow 2, Graves, Baer, Mohon, Doss, Johnson, Rogers; Cedar Bluff: Dobbins. RBIs – Piedmont: Hayes 2, Kirk 2, Morrow 4, Graves, Rogers.
Etowah 18, White Plains 4: Jake Spivey had a big game at the plate for White Plains, going 3-for-3 with two homers, a triple and three RBIs. He hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the fifth. The Blue Devils broke it open with an eight-run third inning and had a seven-run fifth. Eli Dunn homered twice for Etowah.
White Plains 9, Weaver 2: Matthew Clay made his first varsity start a memorable one, throwing a complete game, giving up eight hits and striking out three. Brett Beaver, Tucker Harrell and Payton Morgan had two hits apiece. Austin Bryant had two hits for Weaver.
Oxford 5, Gadsden City 1
Cedar Bluff 10, Weaver 2
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