By Stan Veitch/Sports Correspondent
When a high school baseball three-game series comes down to a rubber game, it is usually the team with the deepest pitching staff that pulls out the victory.
Such was the case last weekend, when Southside took Game 3 from Scottsboro by a 13-5 margin on Saturday (Apr. 30).
“It was good to see us get going offensively,” Panther coach Blake Bone said. “We did a lot better job of hitting it on the ground. Anybody can catch fly balls, but if you hit the ball on the ground, anything can happen.”
Southside advanced to the third round with a visit to Walker this weekend. The series starts on Friday with a doubleheader. The Vikings defeated Clay-Chalkville in three games.
The Wildcats drew first blood on Saturday, scoring two in the second inning, with Hayden Holt getting an RBI on a fly ball. The second run scored on a passed ball.
That seemed to wake Southside up, as the hosts netted three runs in the next half inning.
Baylon Fry started the scoring with a one-out bunt single. Two batters later, Tanner Snow slapped a run-scoring single. After working the bases loaded, Greyson Daugherty hit a two-run single.
The Panthers had a huge inning in the fourth, upping the lead to 9-2. Fry hit an RBI double off the base of the fence but was tagged out as he tried to stretch it to a triple.
Another single was enough for Scottsboro coach Jeff Wood to change pitchers for the first time. Things didn’t work much better for Jamie Manning as he lasted only four batters and gave up four base hits and four runs, including two doubles.
Snow, Logan Brooks, Daniel Sieber and Daugherty each had an RBI. Justin Lynch was then put on the mound for Scottsboro and escaped with no further run damage.
Daugherty pitched the first four innings for Southside and gave up four runs.
The Wildcats notched three runs in the fourth inning.
Southside put a couple more runs on the board in the fifth, with Brooks and Evan Edwards earning an RBI each. The Panthers scored the 13th run in the sixth.
“That was a true team win,” Bone said. “We got a lot of two-out hits and we had big plays from older guys and younger guys. That was truly good to see.”
The series started with a 6-1 Scottsboro victory, while the second game was won by Southside, also by a 6-1 margin.
In the first game, Sieber drove in the Panther run.
“Their guy threw the ball well and we just didn’t execute on offense,” Bone said of the loss. “(Scottsboro) had some timely hits and we just had trouble scoring.”
The second game saw Sieber drive in the first run. The second run was scored on an error in the first inning. In the second inning, Snow drove in two with a single to center field.
The final run was driven in by a Snow sacrifice fly. The other run scored on an error.