Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville third baseman Chance Hughes descends after leaping in an attempt to spear an errant throw over his head.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Hayesville had 16 base runners, but only two came home in the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 1-A baseball playoff game at Scott D. Penland Field on Friday.
By contrast, 17 Mountain Heritage batters reached base and six scored as the No. 23 seeded Wolves, 11-10, upset No. 7 seed Hayesville, 6-2, in a game in which both teams frequently put the bat on the ball.
“The kids fought, never giving up throughout the game,” Hayesville Coach Joe Jack Sellers said.
The Yellow Jackets, 16-4, put the aluminum barrel on the leather/cork orb 20 times in the first six innings, not counting 26 foul balls, but only five were base hits. Most Hayesville rips were socked right at defenders.
Neither of Hayesville’s runs began with a hit. In the second inning, Chance Hughes reached on an error, took second on a Cade Caruso single, reached third when Cooper Matheson walked to load the bases and scored when Peyton McGaha drew a base-on-balls. In the seventh, Tate Roberts walked, was pushed to third by back-to-back walks to Jackson Sellers and Hughes and scored on a wild pitch.
On the other side of the coin, too many Mountain Heritage pokes landed between Hayesville’s fielders. The Wolves finished with nine hits.
“That’s baseball,” Sellers said. “I hate that it ended the way it did.”
Eight Yellow Jackets drew free passes, which would have led seven or eight stolen bases against most opponents. Mountain Heritage pitchers used pickoff moves and bullets to first base from catcher Lane Chandler to keep runners honest. Chandler also threw out two would-be base stealers leaving Hayesville 0-for-2 in the theft department. That was a tough pill to swallow for a team that averaged seven steals a game and swiped 148 of 156 bases this year.
“When you walk eight times and only score one of those base runners, you’re not going to win many games doing that,” Sellers said.
Mountain Heritage scored twice in the first inning and once in the second but Hayesville cut the gap to 3-1 in the bottom of the two. The Wolves added a run in the third and another in the fourth but the Yellow Jackets didn’t panic. It was just a matter of time before the hometown boys rallied and pulled ahead, just like they did in their convincing, 11-5, first round win over Bethany Community.
The time arrived in the bottom of the fifth with Mountain Heritage on top 5-1. With two outs and the bases empty Kyle Shaheen powered the ball into right field for a single. Sellers then ripped a shot right at the third bag and legged out an infield single. With the potential tying run on deck, Mountain Heritage changed pitchers. The move paid dividend when the new pitcher, Caden Carroll, induced a grounder for a fielder’s choice and the third out.
In the sixth, Caruso stroked his third base hit, but was stranded at second by two ground-outs.
The much anticipated rally to tally finally arrived in the bottom of the seventh. First, McGaha walked. Next, Roberts drew a free pass after running the count to 3-2 with two foul balls. After a pickoff and a strikeout, Sellers became the third Jacket to run the count to 3-2 before accepting a base-on-balls. Hughes then walked to load the sacks. With Dawson Devane at the plate, Roberts scored on a wild pitch. Devane walked, but Mountain Heritage went to the bullpen again, and the change again paid off, this time with a game-ending strikeout.
“We had the tying run at the plate in the seventh,” Sellers said. “We started out sluggish in all facets of the game and never could regroup.”
Only one of Mountain Heritage’s runs was unearned — a throwing error on a pickoff attempt at third base — as the Yellow Jackets played the kind of heady defense that helped Hayesville win The Smoky Mountain Conference with an unblemished record.
A combination of athleticism, hustle and smarts produced two crucial double plays that ended Mountain Heritage uprisings. In the third inning with Mountain Heritage leading 3-0 with two runners on and zero outs, Mauney gloved a hot worm-burner, stepped on second and rifled the ball to Sellers at first base for a double play. In the fifth left fielder Cade Caruso ran down a fly ball and howitzered the ball to Devane at the plate to easily nail a base runner trying to score for third.
Those were the brightest defensive gems but far from the only impressive glove-work. In the second inning, Mauney made a superb backhand and perfect throw on a ball he fielded directly behind second base. Following a run-scoring single Mauney gloved a ball hit through the box and fired to Sellers for out No. 3 that gave Mauney an assist and a putout in one inning.
In the fourth, Shaheen made a nice running catch in right field. In the sixth, Caruso gloved a twisting fly on the left field line. Three batters later, McGaha ran down a 340-foot blast in center field.
The most athletic play didn’t produce an out but was nonetheless praiseworthy. In the second inning, Hughes chased down a high, twisting foul near the visitor’s dugout, got a glove on the ball as he dealt with gusting wind, skidding across the gravel buffer and ran into the chain-link fence. It was the best almost catch of the year.