By Deby Jo Ferguson
Sports Writer
On Tuesday, May 3 the Hayesville varsity Jackets traveled to Murphy taking on the Bulldogs in a conference contest. Unfortunately, Hayesville felt the agony of defeat after a 15-5 loss to the Bulldog team.
Hayesville took the lead in the first inning with 1 run and held the Bulldogs back from crossing home plate. In the second inning the Bulldogs bounced back scoring 2 runs and taking a 2-1 over the Jackets. The third inning brightened up some for Hayesville fans when Jackets runners scored 2 crossing home plate. The Bulldogs refused to be outdone and scored 2 runs themselves, thus Murphy still held the lead by 1 run at the end of the third.
The Bulldogs controlled the field for the next two innings adding 6 additional runs expanding their lead to 10-3 over the Jackets.
In the final inning the Jackets made their way across home plate for 2 runs, but it wasn’t enough. The Bulldogs turned it on and scored 5 runs to their already dominating lead and grabbed the conference win 15-5.
Scoring runs for the Jackets were Mason Cook, 1 run; Cooper Matheson, 1 run; Avery Leatherwood, 1 run and 1 RBI; Kyle Lunsford, 1 run and 1 RBI; Cade Denton, 1 run and 1 RBI.
On May 5, it was a close rematch between the Jackets and Murphy when Hayesville host a conference contest but fell short the win 12-9.
Game highlights for the Jackets included Leatherwood who scored 2 runs and brought in 3 RBIs; Denton, 1 run and 4 RBIs; Cook, 2 runs; Cherry, 2 runs; Matheson, 1 run and 1 RBI; and Lunsford, 1 run.
The varsity Jackets hold an overall 10-4 season record following this game and an 8-4 conference record and 3rd place in SMC.