Piedmont advances

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: March 10, 2020

Thompson’s inside-the-park home run, Reedy’s complete game lifts Bulldogs into county tournament finals

CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
(At Jacksonville State)
Semifinal No. 1: Piedmont 7, Jacksonville 1
Semifinal No. 2: Alexandria 3, Oxford 1
Championship game: Piedmont 6, Alexandria 1

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE — Silas Thompson highlighted a six-run first inning with an inside-the-park home run and Noah Reedy pitched a complete-game three-hitter to propel top-ranked and top-seeded Piedmont into the Calhoun County Tournament championship game Tuesday in a 7-1 win over Jacksonville.

The undefeated Bulldogs (12-0) will play either second-seeded Oxford or third-seeded Alexandria in the title game tonight at 7 p.m. at Jacksonville State.

Thompson’s homer was a shot to straightaway centerfield that got over Draylen Fomby’s head and scored Brant Deerman and Sean Smith ahead of him to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.

“When I first got out of the box I was hoping it would get over his head and once I realized it I had one thing on my mind and that was touching home,” Thompson said.

He was a midway between second and third by the time Fomby flagged it down. Piedmont coach Matt Deerman said he didn’t know if he’d have been able to stop the senior outfielder coming round third if he even tried to throw up a stop sign.

“All my teammates said I definitely looked faster,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he used to hit inside-the-park homers when he was younger but “hadn’t hit one in a while,” and he hadn’t hit one that’s cleared a fence since he was 15. The dimensions of Jacksonville State’s ballpark made it a lot easier.

He hit a ball maybe harder in his second at bat that first baseman Brandon Heard got a glove on before picking it out of the air or it would’ve wound up in the right field corner for another possible inside-the-park homer.

Reedy, a sophomore, held the Golden Eagles to three hits and one unearned run. He struck out six and walked none, throwing 72 pitches. Jacksonville scored 33 runs in its two tournament games on Monday.

“We wanted a guy who was going to throw strikes and make them put the ball in play and let our defense play behind him,” Bulldogs coach Deerman said. “He had been throwing the ball really well in the outings he’s thrown and been really good in pens, I trusted him and he performed. We made three errors and he’d have been in the 60s (pitches) if we hadn’t done that.”

“I got dialed in there at first and kept it the whole game,” Reedy said. “I hadn’t really been able to prove myself until today.”

Jacksonville 010 000 0 – 1 3 1
Piedmont 610 000 x – 7 13 3
WP: Noah Reedy. LP: Nick Salmon. 2B: Coleman Oliver (J). 3B: Bryce Mohon (P). HR: Silas Thompson (P).