Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville ace Braxton Cherry puts every ounce of his being into a fastball in Friday’s second round playoff game.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
All season long, Hayesville foes wondered, “what hit us?” After being steamrolled by the mighty Yellow Jackets, a hit happy, strong armed, fabulous fielding baseball powerhouse that put teams away by scores of 24-0 (Andrews), 23-0 (Cherokee), 18-0 (Hiwassee Dam) and 17-2 (Robbinsville).
Saturday, the Yellow Jackets were the ones looking for the license plate number of the truck that side-swiped them.
Somehow or someway, Eastern Randolph, a school that lost 75 percent of its regular-season games, bounced Smoky Mountain Conference Champion Hayesville out of the second round of the Class 1-A baseball playoffs by a score of 5-2.
It doesn’t add up that Hayesville (12-4) lost to Eastern Randolph (6-17), which limped into the post-season with seven losses in its last eight games and had a nine-game losing streak early in the year. But, sad to say, that’s how the Yellow Jackets season of great promise ended in a game that was suspended due to heavy rain on Friday and continued under clear skies the next day.
Evidently, the boys from Ramseur peaked at just the right time.
“It was a tough ending to a great season,” remarked first-year Hayesville Coach Joe Jack Sellers. “The kids fought hard, but we didn’t hit the ball well. We have to give them (Eastern Randolph) credit, they pitched well.”
How well? Southpaw Stratton Barwick allowed just 2 first-inning singles, whiffed 7 and retired 9 Yellow Jackets in a row in four innings on Friday.
Hayesville ace Braxton “Cherry” Cherry was nearly as dominant, allowing just 4 hits, 1 earned run and one walk, while chalking up 4 strikeouts before a downpour halted play with Eastern Randolph on top, 2-1.
Cherry blanked the Wildcats in the first two innings and retired the first batter in the top of the third before yielding a single to Rayden West. Perfect double play scenario. Unfortunately, West went from first to third when a pickoff attempt went awry, and then scored on a single to tie the game at 1-1. Eastern Randolph used a deep sacrifice fly, a hit batter and double steal to go up 2-1 before centerfielder Tate “Rockin’” Roberts caught a fly for the third out.
Hayesville’s run came in the first inning when Michael “Money” Mauney singled, took second on a sacrifice groundout by Dakota “The Unloada” Matheson, zipped to third on a wild pitch and scored when Avery “Eveready” Leatherwood smoked a single to right-center.
Barwick ended the uprising with back-to-back strikeouts.
Both coaches went with fresh arms on Saturday and while the visitor’s Lucas Smith wasn’t as dominant as Barwick, Hayesville only touched him for 2 hits and a run. The Yellow Jackets’ only Saturday run came from Mauney.
“We still had our chances,” Coach Sellers stated. “We left runners on base in several innings.”
Six of the eight stranded runners reached base in the final three innings. In fact, the Yellow Jackets missed a black-and-gold opportunity in the seventh.
“We had the tying run at the place in the bottom of the seventh with two runners on, we just couldn’t push them across,” Coach Sellers lamented.
Leatherwood and Mauney led the Hayesville offense. Leatherwood had two of Hayesville’s 4 hits, while Mauney went 1-for-3 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs.
Peyton McGaha had Hayesville’s only other hit. Matheson and Roberts had sacrifices. Ben Bethel contributed a steal.
On defense, Matheson had 4 assists, while Roberts made putouts and Mauney had 2 assists.
As always, seniors Cherry, Cade Denton, Leatherwood, Kyle Lunsford and Matheson provided leadership. Classmate Logan Caldwell, Hayesville’s starting left fielder did not suit up because he was competing in the State Class 1-A Track and Field Meet.
“I’m gonna miss this Senior class,” Coach Sellers said. “They were the glue that kept us together.”