SAVANNAH — Calvary Day swept Monday’s second-round series over Morgan County at Grayson Stadium to advance to the Class AAA quarterfinal.
The Cavaliers took game one of the afternoon 8-4 and followed up that performance with a gritty 7-6 win in 12 innings over the Diamond Dogs.
Morgan County head coach Steve Westmoreland was proud of his players’ effort, especially in game two, but admitted they made a few costly errors.
“It was a tough series, and I knew we would have to play clean. They were two close games,” Westmoreland said. “Unfortunately, for us, we made a few too many mistakes. We had seven errors in the series and gave up several unearned runs in games one and two. We also left some guys on base in game two and missed too many opportunities against a good team. We just came out on the wrong end of it.”
During the third inning of game one, Calvary Day took advantage of walks and a hit-by-pitch to extend the inning and plate three runs.
The Cavaliers entered the fourth inning up 4-1 and added three more runs due to two more hit-by-pitch situations and an error by the Dogs.
Down 7-1, Morgan County scored three runs in the fifth off RBI hits from Hudson Reed, Drew Ainslie, and Davis Strickland, but the damage was done.
Calvary Day scored another run and secured the win, but the next contest was different as it went to extras.
Game two lasted longer than expected when Morgan County scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 4-4. Ty Tillery’s single scored Strickland, which made it a one-run game. The Diamond Dogs tied the game during the next at-bat as Jack Whitlow grounded out to bring around Drew Cole to score.
After Strickland and Draco Frazzitta performed well for Morgan County on the mound through six innings, Skylar McCoy entered the game. McCoy pitched a scoreless seventh, but the Diamond Dogs couldn’t take advantage of runners in scoring position during the bottom half of the frame to send the game to extra innings.
Morgan County loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with zero outs but couldn’t score. The inning ended in unfortunate fashion for the Diamond Dogs on a double play with a questionable call at home plate.
Strickland popped out to left field with one out, and Talan Fuller tagged up but was called out at home plate for the final out. The umpire said Calvary Day’s catcher applied the tag before Fuller touched home plate.
McCoy continued to shine on the mound through the next two innings and keep Morgan County in the game, but in the top of the 12th, the Cavaliers’ bats got hot again. They scored three runs off McCoy, who was then pulled for Ainslie. The sophomore righthander retired three of four batters with the Dogs trailing, 7-4.
The game wasn’t over yet, though.
Morgan County put together a two-out rally as Eli Whitlow scored on a wild pitch, and Strickland rounded third and crossed home on a single from Jack Whitlow. But catcher Robert Pearson struck out to end the game.
The Dogs showed resiliency and didn’t give up, but their season unfortunately ended at Grayson Stadium in Savannah against Calvary Day. They finished with a 23-10 overall record and ranked inside Class AAA’s top 10.
“We showed our ability to fight, and we have some DNA for that,” Westmoreland said. “The kids really competed. Unfortunately, some of the calls didn’t go our way, but we can’t control that. It’s not something we can hang our hat on, so we’ve got to take care of ourselves and handle what we can control. Again, we missed too many opportunities and left them in somebody else’s hands, and that’s how it ended up for us. They fought, fought, and fought. I told them between games that win or lose, I was proud of them.”