By By Tim Cottrell
The Northview Chiefs played host to Butler County High School out of Kentucky Tuesday afternoon in a dramatic game that may have been worth that long trip for Butler.
The Chiefs fell 2-1 after a late rally left them one run short.
Matt Reynolds took the loss for Northview (5-8), pitching five and two-thirds innings and giving up one run off three hits and striking out three. Jeremy Greenwell came on in relief to pitch one and one-third innings, giving up one run off no hits and striking out two.
Leading batters for the Chiefs were Jordan Cook, who hit 2-for-3; J.J. Cutler, who walked three times, scored a run, and notched a hit in his only official plate appearance; Philip Enfinger, who recorded one hit in three at-bats; and Reynolds, who batted 1-for-2.
The loss marked the seventh in the last eight games for the Chiefs, who two weeks ago were 4-1.
"We left a runner on second in six of the seven innings," said Chiefs coach Chris Poulsen. "That killed us. We got good pitching and good defense, but we just didn't have the timely hitting."
The Chiefs were set to play Escambia County Thursday night, but wet conditions on the baseball field in Flomaton prevented that from happening.
As of Friday Poulsen and his team were gearing up for a district matchup with Jay. That game was incomplete at press time.
"We go to Jay tonight," Poulsen said. "We need to win out. We need to win every time we face Jay and Baker. The only thing we can remain in control of is what we do. We're not in the driver's seat at this point."
Jackson Academy 3
The Cougars of Escambia Academy traveled to Jackson Tuesday afternoon to take on the Eagles of Jackson Academy in an area showdown.
The Cougars had beaten the Eagles 5-2 two weeks prior to the meeting, but early on things looked like they might be different this time.
Trailing 2-1 after three innings, the Cougars erupted for two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a commanding 7-2 lead.
Joe Drew picked up the win for the Cougars, and Norris Brooks notched a save after coming in in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and nobody out. Brooks did not surrender a run.
Leading hitters for the Cougars were Josh Montel, who batted 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk; Cody Norton, who hit 2-for-4 with a run scored; Jon Brantley, who hit 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored; Buckie Dawson, 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored; Joe Drew, who notched three hits in four at bats, scored two runs and drove a run in; and Oliver Petty, who went 2-for-4 from the plate with an RBI double.
The win marked the fifth in a row for the Cougars (9-6).
Cougar skipper Mike Harrell felt his team had stepped it up Tuesday.
"They tried a lot of situational hitting on us – things like bunts and that type of thing," Harrell said. "We were making plays on it, but we also made a couple of mistakes and it helped them jump out on us. Instead of getting rattled our guys came back strong. Buckie laid down a big bunt for us, and Norris did a great job making that save. We played (hard) all seven innings."
Harrell was quite encouraged by the improvement of his team over the last two weeks.
"If we continue to hit the ball (the way we have been) we'll be a tough team to compete with," Harrell said. "We have four strong pitchers when we thought we'd only have one or two. For being a small team, we have a lot of depth in key places. If we continue to come together we'll be tough competition come playoff time."
The Cougars traveled to Clarke Prep for an area showdown Friday night, but that game was incomplete at press time.
T.R. Miller 11
ECHS 2
The Blue Devils of Escambia County made their second trip of the season to Brewton looking to avenge a heartbreaking 9-8 loss from earlier in the season. For half an inning things looked good.
The Blue Devils struck first, with Chris Graham lining a two-run double in the top of the first inning to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
T.R. Miller would then answer with four runs of its own in the bottom of the first on the way to an 11-2 thrashing.
"There's really nothing you can say," said Blue Devil coach Keith Nall. "We're just not hitting the ball very well."
The Blue Devils recorded only five hits in the game, with senior Chris Graham providing three of them, along with 2 RBI. Darius English and Johnathon McNeil also notched a hit apiece.
McNeil started the game for the Blue Devils and took the loss.
The Blue Devils faced UMS-Wright in an area showdown Friday night, but that game was incomplete at press time.