Silverdale Baseball Falls To Gordonsville, 10-1

Lady Seahawks Also Get Beat In 4-2 Final At Goodpasture

  • Saturday, May 20, 2017
  • John Hunt

Saturday was one of those days that folks from Silverdale Baptist Academy might like to erase from their memory banks.

Both the Silverdale softball and baseball teams had outstanding seasons, but both came to a screeching halt in the sectional round of the TSSAA playoffs.

It all began with a softball trip to Goodpasture and ended with a home baseball game against Gordonsville.

The Lady Seahawks finished with an outstanding 20-4 record, but the season ended on a sour note after losing to Whitwell in the Region final on Wednesday before getting beat 4-2 on Saturday.

The Silverdale baseball team had fared just a bit better after beating Boyd-Buchanan for the region baseball title on Wednesday. 

Good fortune just wasn’t on the Seahawks side as the visiting Tigers punched their ticket to next week’s Spring Fling with an impressive 10-1 win late Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers are now 20-12 following this latest win while Silverdale’s record ends at 21-6.

Silverdale’s defense has been better than average on most days,  but for whatever reason, the Seahawks were more uptight than normal and it cost them on defense as they were unofficially charged with four errors.

But on a day where the winner advances and the loser calls it a season, the ball just didn’t bounce Silverdale’s way.

“It’s really hard to see a great group of seniors like we have who have worked so hard all season go out in a game like this,” said Silverdale coach Gray Ange afterward.

“I felt like we played a little tight and I don’t think Gordonsville felt the same pressure.  Their kid kept the ball down and forced us to look at a lot of good pitches, but baseball is a funny game at times.  You just have to find ways to overcome adversity and today we didn’t,” Ange continued.

The Tigers took the early lead with two runs in the second before adding three more in the fifth.  Then in the sixth, in what several folks thought was the turning point of the game, the Tigers put the game away with five more runs.

The inning wasn’t without controversy though.

Luke Blackwell led off with a single to left while Leith McKinney followed with another liner to left that appeared to be caught by Silverdale’s Chase Cook.  Neither umpire on that side of the field had a clear view, so McKinney was awarded first on what may have been another single.

Shortstop Joey Parliament then followed with an RBI-single while Hunter Davis made it hurt even worse when his single up the middle allowed two more Gordonsville runs to score.

Silverdale starter Dylan Bryant was then replaced by Cook, who then allowed a two-run homer by Bobby Parliment.  Cook was able to retire the next two hitters without further trouble, but the damage had been done and the Seahawks were unable to recover from it.

“That play in left was a nail in our coffin, but that’s not why we lost this game.  We haven’t tasted defeat in a while, so that one hurt a bit more than normal,” Ange concluded.

Gordonsville coach Keith Goolsby could only smile when this one ended.

“I thought we played a really good game, but it seems like all the breaks went our way,” he began.

“Hunter (Mann) pitched a heckuva game and we got some timely hits when we needed them.  Most of our guys put the ball in play and that always makes my job a whole lot easier.  I was glad to see us score all of those runs in the fifth and sixth as it sort of broke their back, but we can make motel reservations in Murfreesboro now,” he concluded with a laugh.

Mann, who is a lanky sophomore, won his sixth straight decision without a loss.  He entered the game with an earned run average of less than one, so he was right on course after allowing Silverdale’s only run on a solo homer to Alex Gonzalez leading off the sixth.

He allowed seven hits on the day and had four strikeouts while walking one and hitting another.  Bobby Parliment, who is normally Gordonsville’s number-one pitcher, came in a pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and appears to be rounding into shape after undergoing Tommy John surgery in the off-season.

Every Tiger had at least one hit with Bobby Parliment’s three leading the way.  Davis and Blackburn both had two while Joey Parliment, Mitchell Kirby, Adam Goolsby, Justin Vaden, Nathaniel Hall and McKinney all had one each.

Howard had three of Silverdale’s seven hits.  Tyler Mossburg, Hayden Spencer, Peyton Matheny and Gonzalez all had one each.

Bryant was charged with the loss after allowing nine runs on 11 hits in five-plus innings.  He also struck out three, walked two and hit one.

GORDONSVILLE  020 035 0 – 10 13 1

SILVERDALE  000 001 0 – 1 7 4

Mann, B. Parliment and Vaden; Bryant, Cook (6), Weiss (7) and Spencer.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)  

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