By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE — For much of Thursday afternoon’s meeting between Hewitt-Trussville and Springville, pitchers Baker Green and Caleb McCarty put on a clinic.
Green allowed two hits, struck out nine and shut out the Tigers, while McCarty used off-speed pitches and curves with pinpoint accuracy to induce ground balls from the Huskies and hold them to a single run into the seventh inning, when Hewitt-Trussville scored twice to take a 3-0 victory.
Hewitt-Trussville got on the board in the fifth when Brett Moseley tripled to start things off, and then Brooks McRae singled right field to drive him in.
“Honestly … we had nine hits, we just didn’t get them with runners in scoring position,” Huskies head coach Jeff Mauldin said afterward. “We gave them some outs on the bases. I did a poor job of coaching third. We were over-aggressive — I mean, we’re aggressive base-running anyway — but we were over-aggressive tonight.”
Jordan Nichols singled for the Tigers in the next inning, but was thrown out going back to first after Kurt Kizer caught Zane Smith’s line-drive at second base.
The Huskies went down in order in the top of the sixth, giving the Tigers a chance to tie it up. Instead, Green shut Springville down by striking out the side.
“You have to tip your hat to their pitcher and to their coaches for how they called the game,” Mauldin said. “It’s one of those things where we typically face hard throwers with the teams we play, and then you get a soft thrower like that it can take some adjustments.”
In the top of the seventh, Hewitt-Trussville finally got to McCarty after Carson Wideman and Moseley each singled. McRae, in the ninth slot in the lineup, stepped into the box, taking McCarty to a full-count and then fouling off three other pitches before singling to score Wideman and Moseley, who had advanced on a double steal.
“Their guy did a great job tonight on the mound,” Springville coach Jonathan Ford said. “Not only does he throw with some velocity but he’s able to mix in the slider. McCarty really battled tonight, and the goal for that was to keep them off-balance. For the most part, he did. They still hit some balls hard and we misplayed that fly ball in the seventh inning.”
Nichols came on in relief, getting one out, then walking Ethan Duhon before hitting Huskies catcher Matt Miller in the back of the head with a pitch. Miller shook it off and took his place on first. With two outs, Hewitt-Trussville had two on with one in scoring position, but Green couldn’t help his own cause at the plate, striking out to end the top of the seventh.
From there, it looked like Springville might rally, as Jacob Neal reached base on an error and advanced to second base to get a runner in scoring position. But a foul out and a ground-out in quick succession dimmed those hopes. Asa Morrison — who had thrown out three Huskies on steal attempts in the game as Hewitt-Trussville tested his arm — walked to put two on base for the Tigers with two out before Nichols hit a fly ball caught in right field to end the game.