It wasn’t the prettiest high school baseball game played this spring, but a win is a win and the Soddy Daisy Trojans will take it.
The Trojans improved to 6-4 overall and 2-1 in District 6-AAA Monday night at Red Bank. The Trojans only had six hits in the game, but took advantage of four Red Bank errors as they headed home with a 5-2 victory.
Soddy Daisy didn’t exactly play perfect defense as they committed three errors, but they weren’t near as costly as the Lions were unable to benefit from those miscues.
“I thought we were really resilient and able to keep our composure for the most part,” said Soddy Daisy coach Jim Higgins afterward.
“We had a couple of tough breaks with some really hard-hit balls, but we had a couple of good innings and I thought we ran the bases well.
“I thought Luke Camp did a great job in relief and Sai Vickers did well too as they both filled the zone with strikes and basically just did what they normally do. We would have loved to have played cleaner baseball, but that’s what a team win looks like and we hope to do better tomorrow,” he added.
Red Bank coach Matt Roberson is doing a great job of turning a once-proud program around as he’s in his fourth season as the Lion head man. He also knows that progress takes time.
“Soddy Daisy did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes. I thought that Anyer Alvarez pitched a great game and pitched around trouble a couple of times. He probably deserved a better fate, but we just have to execute plays and we weren’t able to do that tonight.
“We had them down and let them get back in it, but those guys know how to win. We still have plenty of time to clean up those mistakes, but we just dug ourselves a hole tonight,” he nodded after his team fell to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in district play.
A run-scoring double by Tayveonn Bonds in the second inning gave Red Bank an early 1-0 lead before the Trojans tied in when Cooper Poe scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a one-out single. Easton Mulder followed with a single to send Poe second before advancing to third on a fly to right by Hayden Hickey.
That was the only earned run that Alvarez allowed as he exited the game after facing one hitter in the seventh. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Soddy Daisy took the lead with two runs in the fifth on just one hit – an RBI-double by Jake Jackson. Red Bank helped Soddy’s cause with three errors in that inning alone.
And then in the seventh with Hayden Knam replacing the Red Bank starter, the Trojans added their final two runs.
Brayden Maynor led off with a walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches before scoring on a single by Jackson. A fielder’s choice by Mulder scored Jackson with the second run. Hickey then ripped a two-out double to left, but was stranded when Knam got a strikeout to end the inning.
Calvin Bean reached on a one-out error in the seventh and Trammell Davis Jr. walked to put two Lions on base, but Vickers struck out Andy Briceno for the second out before Alvarez grounded to second to end the game.
Jackson was the only player for either team with two hits. He also scored twice and drove in a pair.
While Alvarez was the tough-luck loser, Camp got the win after pitching two scoreless innings and allowing one hit and two walks.
These same two teams will play at Soddy Daisy Tuesday night.
SODDY DAISY 000 120 2 – 5 6 3
RED BANK 010 100 0 – 2 4 4
Pinson, Camp (4), Vickers (6) and Romano; Alvarez, Knam (7) and Brune.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)