Ryan Collins pitches for Lookout Valley. The Yellow Jackets lost to Coalfield, 7-5, in a Class A opening round game.
photo by Joseph Dycus
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’ is an adage in sports for a reason, as a bad beginning to a game can be overcome over the rest of a contest’s duration. But for Lookout Valley, a disastrous first inning doomed the Yellow Jackets to a game in the loser’s bracket.
After falling behind 7-0 in the first inning, coach Josh Payne’s boys were the superior team for the next six innings and scored five runs while shutting out Coalfield.
But the team from the valley could not quite overcome their disastrous first, and eventually fell 7-5.
“There’s no quit in this team, because we’ve had adversity all year and still battled,” coach Payne said of his team that went 14-16-1 but still made it to Spring Fling. “We just spotted them too much last night and we couldn’t overcome it.”
In the first inning, Coalfield’s Brayden Burgess and Aiden Sexton both drove in two RBI’s, and Zach Armstrong and Reilly Brown both had one apiece. The usually sure-gloved Yellow Jackets from Lookout Valley were uncharacteristically sloppy and allowed a number of balls to go for hits that they would usually put out. It didn’t help that the pitching was oftentimes erratic.
From the second inning onward, the pitching was immaculate for Lookout Valley. Starter Jacob Winchester was barely touched in the following three innings, and gave a performance that far exceeded his statline of eight earned runs allowed. Once a torrential downpour put the game on hold overnight, the two teams took the field early Wednesday morning to resume in the fifth inning.
Taking the mound the next day was Rylan Collins, a deceptive right hander who puzzled Coalfield bats to the tune of one hit allowed and four strikeouts over three innings. Some of his breaking pitches had almost a foot of movement on them, and he located his strikes all over the edges of the plate.
“Both of those kids are bulldogs,” coach Payne said of his pitchers. “Both of those kids keep battling and don’t get phased by things. They give all they got.”
Meanwhile, the Lookout Valley bats scored one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, and one in the fifth. Rollins got things rolling in the second with a line drive to center, and then a Winchester double and Collins fly ball scored a couple more teammates in the third.
Before rain stopped the game, Jaxon Qualis’ grounder put Brayden Pruitt across home. Some 12 hours later, Jacob Rollins drove in his second RBI when he shot a ball into right field and sent Winchester back to his dugout.
Coalfield threatened to extend their lead in the seventh, but a marvelous play by Pruitt put an end to the inning. The shortstop cleanly handled a hard-hit ball, raced over to second to step on the bag, and then fired a laser to first for the double play. Lookout Valley failed to equalize in the bottom of the seventh though, which set them up for a game against Bradford immediately after the game ended.
BOX SCORE:
COALFIELD 700 000 0 – 7 9 2
LOOKOUT VALLEY 012 110 0 – 5 8 3
Brasil, Heidel (5) and Treece; Winchester, Collins (5) and Collins, Pell (5).
WP: Brasil
SV: Heidel
LP: Winchester
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