Nate Watson set the tone for Morristown West on the first pitch of Thursday night’s first round of the City Championship series against Morristown East at Sherwood Park. Camden Lovin did the rest.
The Morristown West duo helped the Trojans end a three-game skid against the Hurricanes in dominating fashion, as Watson’s double to the right field wall on the opening pitch was followed by a three-hit, six-RBI outing from Lovin in a 10-0 victory in five innings for West. Watson was just as dominant on the mound, tossing a one-hitter while fanning seven and walking five in the shutout win.
With the win, the Trojans snapped an overall three-game losing streak and won for just the third time in their last 10 games this season, improving to 16-13 on the year and 7-4 in Inter Mountain Conference play with just their second win against East in the last eight meetings. The win secured the No. 3 seed in the District 2-AAA Tournament, which begins next Friday at Seymour High School.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Hurricanes and their eighth in the last nine games, as they dropped to 10-17 overall and 5-6 in IMAC action.
Lovin roped a pair of doubles in the win, while Mason McDaniel also collected three hits and Blaine Robinson added two hits with a double and an RBI. McDaniel and Corbin Yount both drove in runs in the win.
West coach Justin Pickett was pleased with the effort from his team.
“We really needed a win like this tonight, and this one gives us the No. 3 seed in the district tournament and also gives us some momentum,” Pickett said. “I thought our guys were ready to compete tonight, and they showed it. They were hungry for this game. Of course when you look across the field and see East over there, it’s only natural to be fired up, and I thought our kids did a great job of playing off of their emotions.
“Camden had a heck of a night, and he loves hitting here at Sherwood Park. There’s just something about this place that brings out the best in him. And Nate, he was awesome. We have to get him where he doesn’t walk as many guys as he did tonight, but other than that, I thought he did a fantastic job. He worked out of trouble a couple of times and just did a really good job.”
For East, Carson Shockley’s one-out single in the bottom of the second inning was the only hit for the Hurricanes in the contest. David Ellison took the loss after allowing 10 runs, only four of which were earned, on 11 hits with nine strikeouts and a walk.
East coach Matt Ford was not happy after seeing his team fall by the mercy rule.
“We got embarrassed tonight,” Ford said. “We let (West) get in our heads a little bit, and we didn’t have any answers. Obviously, getting just one hit is not going to cut it. We didn’t play well, and hopefully we can respond (on Friday).
“We gave up the double to Watson on the first pitch, and that set a tone for (West). They had quality at-bats and drove in runs. We got guys on base, but it’s been the same story for us all year long. We can’t drive in runs when we need to, and we’ve probably left more than 100 runners on base this season. We left six out there tonight. We just couldn’t get a hit at the right time. We wanted to put pressure on (Watson), and we got guys on base, but we just couldn’t do anything with anybody on base.”
Watson’s leadoff double and swiping third on a wild pitch on the second pitch of the game gave West some early life, and Robinson followed with a walk before McDaniel plated a run with a base hit. Lovin followed with a two-out, two-run double to the opposite field, as the lefty hugged the left-field line with shot to score a pair. Lovin scored on an RBI single by Yount, building the lead to 4-0.
Landon Grizzell and Layne Atkins drew back-to-back walks for East with one out in the bottom of the first but could not score, and the Trojans came right back with two more runs in the second frame. This time, Robinson reached on an error before McDaniel singled once again, and a Kyle Lewis infield single loaded the bags for Lovin, who delivered a two-run single for a 6-0 lead.
Shockley singled and Esten Devault walked in the home half of the second to no avail, and both Watson and Ellison worked perfect third innings before the Trojans added to the lead again in the fourth. Robinson and McDaniel both singled before Lovin cracked a two-run double, and Lovin stole third and scored on an errant throw on the play to make it 9-0.
Watson issued a pair of two-out walks to Shockley and Devault in the bottom of the fourth, and both moved up a bag on a wild pitch before Austin Williams grounded out to end the threat.
West put up one final tally in the fifth, as Watson reached on an error and courtesy runner Cooper Eldridge stole second and third before Robinson hit a sky-high fly ball that dropped for an RBI double to increase the lead to 10-0.
Watson got Jacob Gossett to ground out, Grizzell out on a strikeout and Atkins to pop out to right to end the game.
Thursday night served as Senior Night for the ‘Canes, as Atkins, Ellison and Grizzell all were honored in pregame ceremonies.
The two teams are scheduled to play the second game of the series Friday night at Trojan Park with a 7:30 p.m. first pitch. Senior Night activities for the Trojans will be held prior to the game. In the event the game is rained out, it would be made up on Monday night.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.