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A kerfuffle at the plate led to Mount Airy's first run of its game against Surry Central Tuesday night. Surry Central won 8-6.
“They play very well against us — they always do,” Central coach Matt Scott said. “Their coaching staff does a good job of preparing them to play us and their kids step up to the challenge.”
Mount Airy struck first in the top of the third, when pinch runner Ty Simmons bulled his way over home plate past Alex Wilmoth and Austin Stevens.
But Central responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning, kicked off when Marshall Creed was hit by pitcher Nathan Welch on a full count.
Shane Johnson knocked a one-out single followed by a walk to Austin McLamb to load the bases.
Tanner Hudson then beat out a grounder to short to allow Creed to score.
Scott said the play personified what he and his coaching staff has been preaching all season.
“That was the big play and it was just hustle,” Scott said. “Not a big hit, not a homerun, just hustle. That’s what we have tried to impart to our guys so hard this year and that play opened the door.”
Luke Harris then reached and Ethan and Alex Wilmoth strung together back-to-back hits. When the dust cleared Central had a 5-1 lead and all the momentum.
“I was proud of our guys because they went up 1-0 and we didn’t get tight,” Scott said. “We stayed loose and scored five but they took a couple of punches and bounced right back.”
Central scored two more in the bottom of the fourth but Mount Airy came back with three of their own in the top of the fifth and two more in the top of the seventh.
Josh Beasley spelled Welch after the rocky third and came on nicely to hold Central at bay in the latter portion of the game.
For the Eagles, Bradley Lewis picked up the win with McLamb securing the save.
Central has relied on McLamb and Luke Harris as their two top starting pitchers the entire season and Scott said Lewis has come on as of late and his performance Tuesday was a big boost to his team.
“We’ve made some adjustments to his routine and he’s bought into what we want him to do,” Scott said. “That was huge for him to step in and get the win tonight and give us a chance to run our two horses out there the next two nights. We might go out and get ran off the field but we feel good about where we are.”
Shane Johnson finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs to lead Central offensively, followed by Tanner Hudson and Ethan Wilmoth, who both finished 1-for-3 with two RBI’s and one run scored.
For Mount Airy, Josh Beasley was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and Torrance Hamilton was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs.
In other Northwest 1A/2A tournament action, West Stokes defeated North Surry 2-1 and Bishop McGuinness blew out North Stokes 14-4.
Central will face off with Bishop in the first semifinal matchup of the night on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. with East Surry and West Stokes to follow.
In addition, North Surry and South Stokes will play tonight at 7 p.m. at Surry Central in a one-game playoff to determine the No. 3 2A seed out of the Northwest Conference.
Surry Central 8, Mount Airy 6
MA — 0 0 1 0 3 0 2 — 6 9 2
SC — 0 0 5 2 0 1 x — 8 5 2
WP: Bradley Lewis
LP: Nathan Welch
S: Austin McLamb
2B — MA: Torrance Hamilton, Josh Beasley, Myles Marion; SC: Shane Johnson, Ethan Wilmoth
East wins again
PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry’s Zac Chilton put up five RBIs and pitcher Jordan Miller went five scoreless innings Tuesday to give the Cardinals an 8-0 win over South Stokes and a spot in the semifinals of the Northwest 1A/2A Conference baseball tournament.
East jumped out early and scored in each of the first four innings, capped by a three-run shot from Chilton in the bottom of the third.
Things were the exact opposite for South Stokes, who after handing the Cardinals an 11-5 defeat earlier in the season, were only able to muster two hits on the night.
Kyle Shinault started the game off with a triple to set the tone offensively for East and finished the night 2-for-2 with two runs and one RBI.
Chilton had a monster night at the plate for coach Barry Hall’s team, as the junior catcher finished 2-for-3 with one run, a homerun and five RBIs.
His homerun came in the bottom of the third after back-to-back singles from Austin Tilley and Troy Jessup. Chilton fell behind 0-2 to South Stokes pitcher Jordan Carter but cranked a hanging curve to left center to give East a secure 6-0 lead.
While East lost to South Stokes earlier, the Cardinals came up with some big victories later in the season. Hall said he wanted to make sure his players understood the ramifications of overlooking a team like South Stokes in a “win or go home” situation.
“One of the main points we talked about before the game was the fact that they had beaten us earlier and that in the conference tournament if you don’t come ready to play you go home,” Hall said. “It doesn’t matter who you play because anybody is capable of beating anybody. The kids were good, they came out early and made some good plays defensively, got some hits, got out early and were able to hold them in check.”
Miller was on point for the Cardinals on the mound, going five innings with nine strikeouts, one walk and one hit.
“He was a little shaky early with his control but he kept battling and was able to find it,” Hall said. “He ended up making some good pitches when he needed to and got some ground outs and some strikeouts once he settled down. We were pleased with both our pitchers.”
With the win, the Cardinals will move on to face West Stokes at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Surry Central in the Northwest 1A/2A tournament semifinals. The Wildcats finished second in the conference to host Surry Central.
East Surry 8, South Stokes 0
SS — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 0
ES — 2 1 3 2 0 0 x — 8 9 0
WP: Jordan Miller
LP: Jordan Carter
3B — ES: Kyle Shinault; HR — ES: Zac Chilton
East pounds Sauras
PILOT MOUNTAIN — All four East Surry seniors played an integral part in the Cardinals 10-0 win over South Stokes Tuesday night. It was East Surry’s last regular season game, and it was senior night.
Senior Hayley Shelton pitched a gem of a game on the mound with 12 strikeouts, only allowing one hit. She also went 2-for-4 and scored a run.
“Hayley seemed to have real good velocity tonight,” East Surry coach Derrick Hill said. “Her movement pitches were moving a lot. They hit one ball hard all night.”
Senior Hannah Merritt had a base hit her first at bat, and scored the first run of the game. Senior Samantha Smith went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs and Morgan Chilton scored two runs.
“The emotion of senior night sometimes overrides the ballgame,” Hill said. “We’ve had years in the past where we’ve struggled and didn’t play well, but tonight we took care of business.”
Julie Bullington also was an offensive star recording two doubles and one home run.
East Surry got on the board in the third inning off a couple of base hits from Merritt and Smith and then a three-run home run from Bullington.
East scored two more in the fourth off a Smith double, and then two more in the fifth and sixth to put the game away in six innings.
The Cardinals last game had been a tough loss to South Stokes last Friday night, and East Surry wanted a solid game heading into the conference tournament.
“Obviously we’ve still got a bad taste in our mouth from last Friday, we try not to dwell to much on the past,” Hill said. “Hopefully that game will motivate us a bit, but we just wonder where were two of these runs Friday night.”
The Northwest 1A/2A standings won’t be finalized until West Stokes plays South Stokes in a rain makeup game on Thursday.
The Cardinals do know they will be playing at home against either North Stokes or Bishop McGuinness.
Hill said he hoped an offensive outing like Tuesday night will continue into the postseason.
“It’s big for us to be hitting the ball and have some confidence going into the postseason because that’s the time of year we live for and are gunning for all season.”
Hill also said it was important for the seniors to go out on a high note.
“It was a good night for the seniors,” he said. “We appreciate everything they’ve done for the last four years and we hoped that they had a good time tonight.”
If their contributions on the field were any indication, it’s safe to say they did.
East Surry 10, South Stokes 0
SS: 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 2
ES: 0 0 4 2 2 2 - 10 14 1
WP: Hayley Shelton
LP: Samantha Baker
2B — ES: Beth Isaacs (2), Julie Bullington (2)
3b - ES: Samantha Smith
HR - Bullington
Surry Central soccer wins on senior night
DOBSON — The Surry Central soccer team ended its regular season at home with a 1-0 dogfight win against county rival North Surry.
It was the Golden Eagles’ senior night, and Surry Central coach Mat Richardson said he was especially proud of how his seniors played on the night and all year.
Senior Angelica Gonzalez passed the ball to junior Pati Atunez in the 33rd minute from a corner kick for Atunez to score the only goal of the game.
“Our seniors have in one way or another been the heart and soul of the team,” Richardson said.
“Angelica with her performance as far as scoring goals, and Savannah Snow, Gloria Pena, Hannah Harrison, Yadira Aguilar and Sarah Chavez have shown tenacity and given all the heart they could, and I can’t say enough about them.”
Surry Central controlled the ball for most of the game Tuesday night, but were only able to capitalize on one of their shots on goal.
Luckily, the defense came through and stifled any North Surry rallies before they even got started.
“Sarah was everywhere tonight,” Richardson said in praise of senior Chavez. “She was one of the few that had one of her better games tonight. She was part of the offense and part of the defense, and she just played incredibly tough tonight and with a lot of passion.”
The Eagles had a number of chances on offense, but kept kicking it directly at the Greyhound goalie who was able to protect the goal.
Surry Central will most likely get a wild-card playoff spot with its 9-9 record, but will not know for sure until Sunday evening.
“We’ve shown a lot of improvement throughout the year and I feel like we’re peaking at the right time,” Richardson said. “Hopefully we can make a run in the playoffs because we feel like we can continue our season.”
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