NEW MARKET – It wasn’t the deja-vu that Southmont’s baseball team wanted, as they lost a Sagamore Conference game to Frankfort by the same 12-2 score they lost just 24 hours earlier.
A solid first three innings by the Mounties saw the score 1-1. They manufactured a run, and turned in some solid defense behind starting pitcher Mason Hall.
The bad dreams came back in the fourth, as the Hot Dogs took advantage of five Southmont errors to score six runs and put the game out of reach.
“One bad inning,” noted Mounties coach Bill Woods. “Frankfort is too good of a team to give them nine errors overall and five in one inning. That also really stretched the pitch count for Hall.”
Hall was on an 80-pitch limit, to make him possibly available for the conference game on Saturday against North Montgomery. He exited in the fifth, having allowed five hits overall, while walking only one and striking out four. He was tagged for six runs, but three were unearned.”
The Hot Dogs, who move to 6-4 overall and now go 3-1 in the league, took advantage of the extra at-bats or bases, and turned in an error-free game themselves.
“We’ve got good pitching depth,” said Frankfort coach Andy Dudley, “and we don’t have a soft spot anywhere in the batting order. We have two freshmen batting in the first three spots who are doing great, we have seniors who are being leaders and everyone is accepting their roles. We want to be aggressive at the plate and on the bases, and I thought we were that tonight.”
The Hot Dogs also got a quality start on the mound from one of those seniors, as Austin Penry threw five innings, allowed five hits, both South runs, while walking four and striking out six. Penry runs his record to 2-0.
The Mounties got a run in the third to tie the game at 1, and got their second run in the fifth.
Cale Chadd, who walked twice, scored in the third after one of those free passes. Chayce Howell drove him in with a single. Howell, who had two hits and reached base a third time after wearing a pitch, scored in the fifth after that plunking. The senior came in on a single by Caden Jones.
Gunnar Shirk came in to pitch in the fifth and finished up on the mound, but was touched for six runs, two unearned.
The Mounties fall to 4-6 on the season and 0-4 in the league.
“We competed better than last night,” Woods said, “but there are still growing pains. We made a baserunning mistake and a couple of other mistakes. We just need to play solid for 21 outs. We need to put that together.”
The Mounties are also still adjusting to the loss of pitching depth, as Adam Cox and Dylan Howell are both on the shelf. “It’s been a tough go of it recently,” the coach admitted.
The Hot Dogs got runs up and down the batting order.
Senior left fielder Quentcy Perry reached base three times and scored all three times, making his coach smile. “It was what we need seniors to do,” he said.
Both teams have a Saturday conference game, as the schedule adds a weekend game between the regular Tuesday/Wednesday contests.
Frankfort heads to Danville to take on the Warriors after they had perfect game tossed at them by North Montgomery.
“I’ve been coaching in the Sagamore Conference for 21 years,” Dudley said, “and I don’t know if it has ever been this good top to bottom. There isn’t an easy out anywhere – you have to compete for every pitch and every inning. I tell the guys that we just have to play the game in front of us. The most important game of the season is today’s game.”
The Hot Dogs have the Chargers, tied for first in the league at 4-0, next week.
The Mounties have those same Chargers Saturday at North, with conference games against Crawfordsville next week, in addition to a Monday game with Greencastle.
“We will be up for North,” Woods said. “The guys will be ready and we’ll sure give it a go. We split with them last year – anything can happen in baseball sometimes.”
