Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
In the end, Ashville simply did not generate enough offense in order to advance out of the second round of the Class 4A state baseball playoffs.
Facing Deshler in a best-of-three series on Friday, April 26, the Bulldogs (19-15) were outhit by a 19 to 4 margin on the way to losses of 4-1 and 5-0 in Tuscumbia.
In 13 and two-third innings, Tiger starting pitchers Price Thornton and Garrett Reid limited the Bulldogs to seven baserunners while striking out 20 and issuing only two walks.
In game 1, Dylan Palmer’s tripled and scored on Drew Layfield’s sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning. Deshler made it 1-1 in the bottom of the third via Camden Fuller’s RBI base hit.
Layfield retired six of the next seven Tigers batters, but Fuller doubled and Reid singled in the bottom of the sixth to put runners in scoring position. Ayden Noyola singled to give Deshler the lead, and a base hit by Thornton and a sacrifice fly from Nash Adams made it 4-1 in favor of the hosts.
Parker Cross (pictured above) led off with a single in the top of the seventh for Ashville, but he soon was out on a fielder’s choice. Thornton struck out the next batter and induced a fly out to give the Tigers a 1-0 series lead.
In six innings, Layfield scattered nine hits and four runs while fanning two. He did not issue a walk. Palmer went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
In six and two-third innings, Thornton allowed three hits, one earned run and one walks while fanning 10. He and Fuller both went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Reid effectively shut down the Ashville lineup in game 2, with his only blemishes coming in the bottom of the fourth when Ethan Layfield (pictured above) was hit by a pitch and Palmer singled. A double play and a flyout soon ended that Bulldog threat. Reid retired the first nine Bulldog batters previous to that inning.
Following Jaden Harris’ leadoff walk in the fifth, Reid retired the final eight batters Ashville sent to the plate. He provided himself all the support would need when he scored off an error in the top of the first innings. The Tigers scored twice in both the third and fourth innings for insurance.
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