Hanks' Walk-Off Gives Silverdale Winning Edge

Seahawks Defeat CCS, 8-5, On Last Inning Heroics

  • Friday, April 9, 2021
  • Joseph Dycus
Silverdale's Sebastian Hanks (8) is congratulated by head coach Lance Rorex as he heads for home following his bottom of the seventh walk-off homerun. Hanks' blast pushed the Seahawks to an 8-5 win over CCS Friday evening.
Silverdale's Sebastian Hanks (8) is congratulated by head coach Lance Rorex as he heads for home following his bottom of the seventh walk-off homerun. Hanks' blast pushed the Seahawks to an 8-5 win over CCS Friday evening.
photo by Dennis Norwood

Silverdale’s Sebastian Hanks has a discerning eye, and wasn’t going to chase any old pitch with a runner on first and third in a tied game. He had a chance to drive home the winning run, and wasn’t going to waste it swinging at junk. So on the third pitch of the at bat, after laying off two balls, Hanks finally saw the right pitch.

 

The righthanded right fielder unloaded on the final pitch of the at bat, and didn’t stop running until he crossed home plate.

The baseball didn’t stop moving until it flew over the outfield fence and hit the ground outside the playing field. That opposite-field homerun into left gave the Silverdale Seahawks an 8-5 walk-off win over the visiting Chattanooga Christian Chargers.  

 

“I think we did a great job of executing well,” Silverdale relief pitcher Maddox Jones said, who struck out five in three innings of work. “And Sebastian did a great job of hitting that home run right there and got us that win.”

 

Starting pitchers Cole Headrick and Turner Junkins each hurled from opposite sides, but both briskly mowed down batters through the first few innings. Jenkins got out of the first inning by forcing weak contact to infielders, and Headrick went for more variety by forcing Seahawks hitters into a flyout, a groundout, and a strikeout.

 

After the Chargers fumbled through another scoreless inning, the Seahawks looked poised to score thanks to leftfielder Brody Lamb’s double down the rightfield line. Then he stole third a few seconds later and just needed one of his teammates to drive him home. He remained there the rest of the inning, stranded on third after the Seahawks failed to get him across home plate.

 

“I thought our pitchers did a good job. They were over the plate and did a good job.,” Silverdale’s coach Lance Rorex said. “Junkins is a guy who will go right at you, and his mentality is ‘I don’t want the guy in the box to be better than me, so I’m going to try to attack him with fastballs and get the changeup over him.’”

 

Chattanooga Christian finally got on the board  in the top of the third. After Junkins struck out Sam Hall and Cooper Kay to start the inning, his pitching adversary got the best of him in the batter’s box and singled to centerfield on a hard grounder. After Headrick moved into scoring position on a passed ball, catcher Henry Horne slapped a ground ball into the hole on the right side of the infield and scored Headrick to give CCS a 1-0 lead.

 

Junkins apparently couldn’t allow his rival to show him up with a bat, so he put on a show during his next at-bat in the top of the third. The righthanded batter ripped a double into rightfield and entered the top of the infield diamond with a standup double. But when centerfielder Hall slipped near the outfield wall, Junkins took off for third.

 

Hall’s delayed throw got away from him, and so Junkins decided to try for the error-assisted inside-the-park homerun. The throw was a little off and Junkins slid around the plate to avoid the tag before touching base. Tied up 1-1 going into the top of the fourth, the game would only get crazier from there.

 

Junkins’ theatrical play was assisted by a wild wind, which whipped across the outfield and carried what should have been popups far deeper than normal. Dark clouds drew ever-closer, and a storm seemed imminent. Even though that storm never materialized, there was plenty of thunder and lightning in the last four innings.

 

Coach Rorex replaced Junkins with fire-balling righthander Jones, and he dominated his first three batters by striking out the side in only 12 pitches. He pounded the strike zone, and Charger hitters were fortunate to make enough contact to foul off an offering. After two swinging strikeouts, rightfielder JT Appel could only look in bewilderment after Jones froze him with an offspeed toss.

 

“I’m just focused on throwing strikes and not trying to do too much. I’m just trying to fill up the strike zone,” Jones said. “I’ve gotten better and am trying to improve every day.”

 

Silverdale’s first baseman Cameron Mullins took advantage of the strong winds and belted a ball over the centerfield wall to lead off the bottom of the fourth with a solo homerun. Headrick bounced back by striking out Lamb, but then Ian Reagan popped a bloop single in between the right and center fielder to get the Seahawks back on track.

 

Noted Silverdale three point shooter Bryson Cline showed he had some baseball skills too, and bunted himself onto first and eventually stole his way to third base. Cline scored when Headrick’s pitch got away from catcher Henry Horne. The catcher flipped the ball back to Headrick, but Cline used his agility to get around the pitcher, who attempted to backhand tag Cline while Headrick’s back was to the Silverdale shortstop.

 

Silverdale had a 3-1 lead heading into the top of the fifth, and Jones looked to continue his dominance. But the young hurler hit utility player Connor Tyler and shortstop Kay to put men on the basepaths. Both scored when Jones’ pitch couldn’t be controlled by catcher Reagan and a comedy of bad throws and errors by the Silverdale defense allowed both runners to cross home plate.

 

“Fielding has been that way all year,” coach Rorex said, “If we’re going to play deep into May, we’re going to need to continue to work on pitching and defense. We have a lot of moving parts and a lot of guys are getting to make chances, so we just have to keep working on it.”

 

The Chargers proceeded to give up their hard-earned tie in the bottom of the same inning. Headrick battled, but he walked Junkins and gave up a Brett Rogers single up the middle to move his opposing pitcher to third. Junkins scored on a wild pitch, and then Rogers came home on another wild pitch after he had previously stolen his way to third base. The centerfielder went 3-4 and scored two runs during the game.

 

Headrick may have had a rough inning, but he continued to fight and forced Lamb to fly out to Hall to end the nightmarish inning. Headrick’s teammates had his back in the top of the sixth, and third baseman William Wall started the inning with a walk. Baker followed that up by singling to now-shortstop Junkins.

 

Second baseman Luke Tinhold sacrificed himself in order to bunt over Wall and Baker. After Jones struck out a hacking Appel, Connor Tyler took advantage of the still-strong winds and lifted a drive deep into centerfield. The ball hit the ground with such force that it bounced over the fence and out of play, driving in both runners on a ground-rule double.

 

After driving in the tying two runs to make the game 5-5, Tyler took to the pitcher’s mound and forced a couple of quick groundouts in the top of the sixth. He briefly faltered and allowed Maddox Jones to pop a single into shallow centerfield, but recovered to strikeout third baseman Lane Meadows.

 

Silverdale’s reliever Eric Boggess retired his three batters to get the Seahawks to the last half-inning still tied, but that didn’t mean the home fans didn’t experience a scare. Cay lifted a ball deep into right-centerfield and for a moment it looked like the Chargers might have their first homerun. But the clutch-hitting right fielder Sebastian Hanks showed he was no one-dimensional player, and flew under the ball and snatched it out of the air mid-stride.

 

After Junkins walked to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Rogers singled to leftfield. Junkins sat on third and Rogers was alert and on first. Both danced home after Hanks blew the cover off the baseball and walked the Seahawks off.

 

“Our plan is to get hard contact when we’re at bat, whether that’s good contact on the ground or on a line, which is what he did at the end,” coach Rorex said. “There’s no need to stress, because you’ve put the work in over the last few months. Just trust in what you can do, and good things will happen.”

 

CCS           001 022 0 – 5    6  2
SILVERDALE    001 220 3 – 8  10  2

Headrick, Tyler (6) and Horne; Junkins, Jones (4), Boggess (7) and Rogers.


 

You can email the author at Joseph.A.Dycus@gmail.com or on Twitter at @joseph_dycus .  

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