A prep baseball game that had been suspended due to weather since late Friday night, keeping two evenly matched teams off the field Saturday, had plenty of suspense on the field in its conclusion Sunday.
And what would have been a pressure-packed moment even in a regular-season game was made more so with the TSSAA District 6-3A tournament title at stake for Signal Mountain and Soddy Daisy.
With the bases loaded and Soddy Daisy within a run of tying but down to its final out with Keith Scoggins ahead in a 2-1 count, Eagles ace Barrett Anderson knew he had to trust the defense of his teammates in the field.
Scoggins made contact on the next pitch, but the fly ball was caught by left fielder Ty Harper, giving Anderson his first save of the season and wrapping up a 9-8 win for Signal Mountain in a dogfight of a championship game at Red Bank High School.
"This was hands down the most stressful situation I have ever put myself into," said Anderson, who in his past eight eight appearances on the mound has seven wins and the save. "I had to push through adversity and got a lot of encouragement from all of my boys. I wanted to get the job done against our biggest rival."
When a thunderstorm halted play Friday night, the Trojans had just struck for three runs on a bases-clearing triple by Scoggins, the No. 3 hitter in the lineup, to cut Signal Mountain's lead to 9-7 with one out in the bottom of the sixth. The teams' plans to pick up where they left off didn't pan out Saturday, and when play finally resumed early Sunday afternoon, Cooper Poe's RBI single for the Trojans pulled them within a run.
Anderson, though — who took over Sunday after Ben Timblin had pitched the final two innings played Friday — got a groundout and a popout to end the inning.
Trojans reliever Hayden Hickey allowed a single to Ty Harper in the top of the seventh but also used his nasty curveball to strike out two batters and kept the Eagles from adding to their lead.
Anderson retired the first two batters with relative ease to begin the bottom of the seventh, but Soddy Daisy found the spark it needed when Logan Williams was hit by a pitch. Jake Jackson and Anthony Florio then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases.
That was it for the Trojans (27-7), though, as Anderson, who hit a home run Friday, delivered once again for Signal Mountain (24-8).
"That is a great ballclub over there," Eagles coach Josh Gandy said of Soddy Daisy, which had clinched the District 6-3A regular-season title with a 10-5 win at Signal Mountain two weeks ago. "I knew this game was going to come down to a high-pressure situation, which is what the postseason is all about. Barrett didn't feel 100% today, but he was like, 'I want the ball.' When a senior tells me he wants the ball, I am going to give it to him.
"Barrett has been super consistent all season on the mound. He was our day one opener, and I took him out of a game against Cleveland down 1-0 in the fifth. Ever since then, he has battled for us and pitched extremely well."
Signal Mountain, which has scored 303 runs this season, was led at the plate by junior Cash Keene, who finished the game with three RBIs and three hits, including a pair of doubles. Anderson drove in two runs, as did Max Rackel, whose RBI single up the middle in the fifth inning Friday night gave the Eagles the lead for good. Timblin's monster homer over the 30-foot batter's eye and Vance Wilburn's RBI double were also big for Signal Mountain.
With the win, Signal Mountain earned the right to host the four-team Region 3-3A tournament, which begins Friday and will include the top two teams from District 5. Maryville's Heritage meets Loudon in that district final Monday, with the winner facing Soddy Daisy and the loser facing Signal Mountain.
The top two finishers in the region advance to sectionals, with the winners in that round advancing to the state tournament at the Spring Fling in Murfreesboro in two weeks.
"We have a bunch of dudes who can swing it," said Anderson, who has a 0.91 ERA over his past 38 2/3 innings. "We are on a roll right now. We want to go all the way to the 'Boro and see how far we can go in the state tournament. I feel like we have the team to do it this year."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.