NEW MARKET — Southmont baseball found themselves down 8-2 and were down to their final six outs of the game Monday when they hosted the Seeger Patriots. What followed was a near comeback that would’ve been one to talk about as the Mounties fell just short in an 8-6 defeat.
The Mounties used a four-run sixth which was highlighted by a Mason Hall two-run single to make the score 8-6. Fast forward to the bottom of the seventh and the Mounties had the winning run at the plate in senior Adam Cox who had Carter Hubble standing at third and Trip Ward at second. Hubble got caught up in between third and home for a crucial second out then Cox grounded out as the Patriots survived a late Southmont rally.
“We had a couple of calls not go our way tonight,” Southmont coach Bill Woods said. “A no-balk call which would’ve scored Carter and then they ruled that their right fielder caught the ball when it bounced out in the fifth. We don’t blame the umpires at the end of the day though. We dug ourselves that hole by giving up four runs in the third with a couple of errors. We put ourselves in that position where we had to claw back.”
Despite the adversity that they faced, the Mounties didn’t back down. Caden Jones got the scoring going for the Mounties two-run double in the third. He along with freshman Gunnar Shirk collected two hits. Shirk reached base three times in the game as he drew a walk. All Together the Mountie hitters were patient drawing eight total walks from the Seeger pitchers.
Woods did credit his team for the way the rallied together and was able to be in the game until the final out.
“We’re going to compete and never hang our heads,” he said. “Disciplined teams like the one were building find ways to stay in the game until the very end. We hung right there with a team that was the fifth ranked team in the 2A pre-season poll. Caden and Mason both did a great job of leading as seniors. Even our freshman tonight with players like Cale Chadd who threw an inning of relief and was able to get out of a jam. We made a decision tonight not to throw anyone too much with having conference games the next two nights. We wanted to make sure we had everyone available.”
With that the Mounties used five arms in the game. Hubble got the start and threw an inning and a third followed by Brennan Thornburg inning and two-thirds. Cox came on to throw two innings of one-hit ball with Chadd and Hall throwing the sixth and seventh.
The Mounties with the loss fall to 3-2 on the season. They will open up Sagamore Conference play on Tuesday when they welcome the Tri-West Bruins to New Market.
“We feel like we’re in a good spot,” Woods added. “As long as our pitching situation stays OK, I think we can compete with most of the teams on our schedule.”
The Mounties and Bruins get underway on Tuesday at 5:30
