Thursday, they got it.
Central rode the back of senior pitcher Austin McLamb and put together a string of timely hits for a four-run fifth inning to hand the West Stokes Wildcats their first Northwest 1A/2A loss of the season, 4-3.
McLamb gave up all three runs and three of Wildcat’s four hits through the first three innings, but afterward allowed only one hit and no runs to slam the door on a big win for the Golden Eagles.
McLamb struck out 13 batters and walked just one in seven innings of work.
“We are in every game he throws in,” Central coach Matt Scott said. “I told the guys tonight that we play with a little swagger when Austin is on the mound. But we’ve got to learn to play with that same swagger when we run our others guys out there, because Luke (Harris) was just as good last night.”
West led 3-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning when the Eagles used three hits, two walks and a hit batsman to put up four runs, capped by an RBI single from Andrew Lammon to tie the game.
With two outs and Ethan Wilmoth on third, Marshall Creed hit a hot ground ball to second base. The Wildcats fielder bobbled the ball which allowed Creed to beat out the throw to first and Wilmoth to jet home for the go-ahead, and eventual game winning run in the process.
“We got a little help that inning but we took advantage,” Scott said. “Their kid was getting tired and was letting the ball get up and I thought we did a better job tonight of making adjustments at the plate.”
Thursday’s win had added importance for the Eagles because West Stokes is one of four 2A teams in the Northwest Conference. After the loss to North Surry Wednesday, another 2A team, defeating the overall, and 2A conference leader, could play big in playoff seeding down the line.
Scott acknowledged the importance of the win and said he thinks this season’s Northwest conference is tough and still very much up for grabs.
“I’ll be honest it’s pretty good baseball in our league right now,” Scott said. “Except for West Stokes everybody’s got two or three losses halfway through the conference season so it’s still open for anybody’s taking, it really is. West Stokes is awfully good but they’ve been taken the distance by a couple teams. We know we are capable of playing with just about any team and that’s all that we ask for; a chance to win the ball game.”
With the win, Central improves to 6-4 overall and 3-2 in conference play. They will travel to Mount Airy Saturday, with JV’s beginning at noon.
Surry Central 4, West Stokes 3
WS — 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 3 4 2
SC — 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 — 4 5 2
WP: Austin McLamb
LP: Scott Leonard
2B: WS — Amos Wilmoth; HR: WS — Jacob Nunn
DANBURY — East Surry’s Jordan Miller and Evan Smith combined for a shutout to lead the Cardinals to a 4-0 win over North Stokes in baseball action Thursday night.
“We just had a solid defensive game by everyone,” East Surry coach Barry Hall said. “Our pitchers threw well and we had some timely hitting. It’s good to bounce back a game after a tough loss the night before.”
Andrew Hunter used both his power and his speed to provide for a large chunk of the East Surry offense with two stolen bases and a run in the first inning, followed by a solo home run to left center in the fifth inning.
Miller started and went five innings, improving his record to 3-1. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed two hits.
Smith came on in relief striking out one, walking one and he didn’t allow a walk.
East Surry will play a non-conference game on Saturday against East Wilkes at noon.
East Surry 4, North Stokes 0
ES — 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 — 4 5 0
NS —0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 3 0
WP: Jordan Miller
LP: Justin Young
2B — ES: Troy Jessup; HR — ES: Andrew Hunter
South Stokes had the unfortunate luck to play North Surry one day after its most dramatic win of the baseball season.
The Greyhounds defeated Surry Central 1-0 Wednesday in the bottom of the seventh inning. Thursday they rode that wave to a 2-1 win over the Sauras and a .500 overall record.
The Greyhounds scored the final and game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Logan Maines made it safely home from third base on a wild pitch.
North Surry starter Jacob Pelfrey and reliever Jameson Ross combined for a near shut out of the Sauras, who managed nine hits but were unable to put across any runs until it was too late.
Pelfrey was certainly the player of the game as he finished with seven strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter in four and two-thirds innings to go along with a 2-for-3, one RBI night at the plate.
North Surry assistant coach Shane Worth said the same formula which allowed North to defeat Central Wednesday was in play against the Sauras.
“It was the same as last night, good pitching on the mound kept us in the ballgame and the defense behind them played well all night,” the coach said. “Bringing the momentum from last night’s win into tonight was big. One thing we stressed tonight was that they stayed up. They never got down, they battled the entire night and have for two nights solid. We just couldn’t be prouder of them as a coaching staff.”
North Surry 2, South Stokes 1
SS — 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 9 0
NS — 0 0 0 1 0 1 x — 2 5 1
WP: Jacob Pelfrey
LP: Montgomery
2B: SS — Rice, Neagle
RONDA — Just six games into the 2010 girls soccer season, the North Surry Greyhounds have bested their record from a year ago.
North defeated East Wilkes 3-0 Thursday for its third win, one more than the Greyhounds won in all of 2009.
Lizbeth Morales and Paula Hernandez each scored a first half goal to give the Greyhounds the momentum early. North then tacked on the third goal in the second half off an astounding 25-yard free kick from defender Emily Powell.
“She nailed it,” North Surry coach Adam Beshears said. “She is a defender but she takes all of our free kicks. It was just a beautiful shot.”
After what Beshears deemed a lackluster 4-1 win over Mount Airy earlier this week, the Greyhounds coach said Thursday was a much better effort.
“I feel like we picked it up this game,” he said. “We played better overall than we did at Mount Airy. We controlled the ball more and we put a lot of things together that we’ve been working on.”
After a two-win season a year ago, the Greyhounds are riding high and sit at 3-3 overall. Beshears said the difference from last season is that the time and effort the players have put in have begun to pay off.
“We are a whole lot better than we were last year,” he said. “I think it’s because our starting lineup, with the exception of maybe two, are all back. The girls are used to the way we do things and they know what we expect. Things we worked on last year we are better about putting into play. We don’t have to work as much on skills as we do putting stuff together. They are more experienced and they play with more confidence now.”
North Surry is 3-3 overall and 2-1 in Northwest 1A/2A Conference play.
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