The McMinn County Cherokees incorporated a little bit of the Bradley Bears playbook and now the Bears will need to utilize a part of the Cherokee scheme as both teams took care of business on Saturday to close out best-of-3 5AAA semifinals season extenders.
Third-seeded McMinn dropped second-seeded Cleveland, 11-3, and top seed Bradley was 5-1 better than seventh-seed East Hamilton as both winners advanced into Monday night’s 7 p.m.
championship tilt. The win also qualified each for a region berth with home and away sites the remaining debate. And a District championship trophy, of course.
The Cherokees used a little small ball and some strategic pitching decisions by head coach Mike Ray to keep all four of his D1 pitchers available as McMinn appears loaded for Bear. Bradley, meanwhile, has relied heavily on its top two arms all season and will now need another arm to step up to handle a Cherokee squad it lost to twice in the regular season.
“We’ll figure it out before Monday,” said Bradley coach Travis Adams. “We got the one we needed today. You put a lot eggs in that basket, but we have guys capable of stepping up. It’s their stage now.”
McMinn used its talented staff just enough to get to the finals to allow all four an opportunity to go in the championship tilt. MTSU-commit Ollie Akens needed just 74 pitches on Friday in a win, David Lipscomb-signee Hayden Frank threw 69 pitches yesterday before ETSU-bound Andrew Ronne made to Western Kentucky-signee Will Grimmitt on 51 pitches Saturday. Grimmett got the final two out in 13 pitches.
“It’s a luxury and one we are going to ride as long as we can. They are all different, but all very talented. They did what we needed them to do the last two days to put us in a good spot,” Ray was candid afterwards.
Bradley Central 6, East Hamilton 1: District player of the year, Ashton Simmons wasn’t quite as dominate as Cooper Casteel was in the opener, but with the league’s top defense behind him, he was able to scatter seven hits, allow 11 base runners and only allow the lone run.
“I don’t like having people on base on me, and I really don’t like runners trying to get big leads. It’s the small things, but that’s what we focus on. We do such a great job with our small ball philosophy, it helps us realize how important every base is in keeping runs off the board,” said Simmons.
The Canes, one of the top hitting squads in the league, could not muster a timely hit off Simmons. In the first, they got two hits, but Simmons picked a runner off first. In the second another hit was erased by a ground ball 6-4-3 double play. In the third, a lone hit was stranded, and in the fifth two more hits were wasted. A leadoff double got left sitting at second in the sixth and Simmons finally got a 1-2-3 seventh to end it.
“That was a tight game. It is 1-1 into the fifth, and anyone’s game. Those guys put a lot of pressure on you with their speed and bats, and if you aren’t focused one bad inning can do you in. When we allow runners it has been a point of emphasis for us to keep them from advancing. It’s important to control the running game, and Simmons and (catcher) Ethan Lamberth do a good job in that aspect,” Adams said.
The Bears were able to get that big inning in the sixth with five straight hits. Iverson Vasquez started it with a laser to left and pinch hitter Karter Howard singled. Landen Kibler hit a chopper up the middle that got knocked down to save the run, but Dakota Peace hit a towering ball to the fence to push across a pair with the bases loaded. Simmons bunted for a hit to reload them and a sac fly by Casteel made it 5-1.
Bradley added an insurance marker in the seventh on doubles by Aiden McClary and Vasquez to set up Simmons’ for the 3-up, 3-down seventh to end it.
“Eats Hamilton is a good team. You look at what they did to Walker Valley and Ooltewah to get to us, and it was impressive. I tip my cap to them, but I really tip it the guys backing me up on defense. We are right where we want to be,” Simmons added.
Chase Roberts had two of the Canes seven hits, and he reached on an error in the fourth and eventually scored on a ground out to knot it at 1-1. Bradley quickly took the lead back, though, in the bottom of the inning with three straight hits and a ground out. Dakota Peach, Simmons and Casteel loaded the bases with hits before Daniel Cox’s grounder was too slow to turn a double play, forcing in the go-ahead run.
Simmons led a 12-hit brigade with three singles, while Peace, Casteel, and Vasquez each had two base knocks.
McMinn County 11, Cleveland 3: For the better part of the season, the Cherokees have put their trust in a pitching staff filled with DI arms. Now that the post season has arrived, Coach Mike Ray has emphasized a different kind of trust and the results were parlayed big time yesterday
"This game is about opportunity and capitalizing on it. We have worked on toning it down, simplifying it at the plate. Our goal is to get it to the next guy and that has to involve trust that the next guy will get it done. We've been a big swing team, but we have started working the bunt game in some more and using our hands more. We were locked in today," Ray said
And a Cherokee team locked in on offense paired with the arsenal of pitching arms is a tough combination for the opposition.
"When you run into those kinds of arms and they hit like that, they're just a dang good team. They make it tough on you," Cleveland coach Preston Scoggins said in agreement.
It would take that kind of effort to salt away the Blue Raiders who made it clear from the get go all the way to the butter end they were fighting for their baseball lives.
Cleveland scored two runs in the first and had as many hits after two batters as they had in Friday's 5-0 loss. Mycha Jordan led off with a seven-pitch at bat before singling and Jonathan Powers doubled to conclude an eight-pitch battle with Frank to make it 1-0. Powers then stole third and an errant throw trotted him home for a 2-0 margin.
The Cherokees quickly got that back and more with their simplified approach. Leadoff hitter Andrew Beavers doubled and was sacrificed to third. Will Harris singled deep to short for the run producer. A dropped fly ball in center and a fielder's choice preempted another error at third to send in two more for a 3-2 lead.
McMinn then added a single run in the second and six in the third to make it 10-3, all but sealing up the region berth.
"I'd say we wanted a little bit of revenge, but more importantly, we just wanted to keep our season alive. Once we got to today we wanted to get it done and secure that guarantee," said Will Grommet, who had three of the Cherokees 14 hits.
Grimmett's hit in the second inning scored Ronne who had been hit by a pitch, but Cleveland got it it back in the third thanks to back-to-back singles by Powers and Haydon Sells before Ethan Jones' sac fly chased Powers home.
McMinn followed that up with seven hits in the third, though, chasing Cleveland starter Will Godwin. Sam Goodin and Mason Roderick had RBI hits in the frame and Grimmett came through with the big two-run single. Beavers hit by pitch with the bases full plated another.
From there the Blue Raiders got a healthy dose of quality pitches from the Tribe. Frank went three innings and allowed four hits, Ronne got the next three frames, striking out four and Grimmett nailed down the final two outs.
The 11 runs tied a season high for the Cherokees, who banged out 14 hits. Beavers and Grimmett each had three hits while Frank and Goodin each had a pair. The Blue Raiders got two hits apiece from Mycah Jordan and Powers.
LINESCSORES
CLEVELAND 201 000 0 – 3 7 4
MCMINN CO 316 001 x – 11 14 2
Godwin Bevan (3) and Jones; Frank, Ronne (4), Grimmett (7) and Roderick.
BRADLEY 100 013 1 – 6 12 1
EAST HAMILTON 000 100 0 – 1 7 0
Simmons and Lamberth; Phillips, Eller (6) and Evans.
(contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com