Signal Mountain, Hixson Win In 6-AA Baseball

There were no real surprises or upsets as the District 6-AA baseball tournament resumed Sunday afternoon at Hixson’s John Plumlee Stadium with both of the top seeded teams winning.

Number-one seed Signal Mountain had the easiest win as they rolled to a 21-1 victory over fourth-seeded Red Bank in the first game of the day.

Second-seed Hixson followed with a 5-1 win over number-three Central.

Monday’s schedule has Red Bank facing Central in an elimination game at 5 with Hixson and Signal Mountain meeting in the winners’ bracket final at 7:30.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 21, RED BANK 1: Sam Witherspoon got a wealth of pitching experience as a freshman last year for the Eagles, so he’s become a very reliable starter for the Eagles.

The 16-year-old sophomore walked the first hitter he faced.  Red Bank’s Eli Massengale then advanced to third on back-to-back wild pitches before scoring on a grounder to second by Madox Wilkey.

That was all the Lions got as Witherspoon then recorded 15 straight outs to finish with his second no-hitter of the game.  He finished the day with seven strikeouts.

“I just tried to throw strikes and to keep things simple, but I knew my defense was behind me and they made some great plays,” Witherspoon said in a matter of fact way after the Eagles had improved to 22-9.

Signal Mountain’s bats were hot from the start as they scored in every inning.

They got five in the first, three in the second and four in the third before wrapping things up with nine in the fourth.

The Eagles collected 13 hits along the way and they were helped a bit by three Red Bank errors.

Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy was just happy to see his kids playing well at a most crucial part of the season.

“That was good,” he smiled in making the biggest understatement of the day concerning his team.

“Sam pounded the zone and threw quality pitches the entire game.  Even though he’s only a sophomore, we feel confident with him on the mound.  We were also able to make some plays on defense and I thought we had a good approach at the plate.

“I think that may have been a season-high in runs scored for a game, so I’m happy about that,” Gandy concluded.

Scott Payne, Dalton Cunningham, Collins Poole, Finn Megahee and Witherspoon all had two hits to set the pace for the winning Eagles, but none were any more productive than Payne, Poole and Megahee.

Payne hit two home runs in the fourth inning when the Eagles sent 13 hitters to the plate and scored their final nine runs.  The first was a solo shot with one out while the second was a grand slam with two outs.  Those were the first two homers in high school for the fellow who will be kicking for the MTSU football team in the fall.

Poole had a bases-loaded double in that five-run first and got another RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the fourth.  Megahee ripped triple into the right-field corner with the bases loaded in the third while adding an RBI-double in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth.

While Witherspoon was the winning pitcher, Ethan Sullivan took the loss for the Lions after allowing a dozen runs on seven hits.  He also had one strikeout, four walks and one hit batter.

HIXSON 5, CENTRAL 1: The Wildcats are anxious to get another shot at Signal Mountain, so it was all business for the Wildcats in their win over Central.

A pair of first-inning walks led to RBI-singles by A.J. Wild and Kane Johnson as Hixson took the lead in its first at-bat.  They followed with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings for a 5-0 lead.

Jacob McDaniel had a leadoff single in the second and scored on a Central error while Nic Castro had a solo homer in the third and Jack Julian the same in the fourth.

Winning pitcher Alex Rollins was rolling along with a one-hitter through five innings before the Pounders broke through and scored their only run.

Andrew Merriweather ripped a two-out double before Caleb Hutsell’s single drove him in.

Ike Deitch beat out an infield hit with two outs in the seventh, but Rollins was replaced by Manny Velazquez after building a 2-2 count against Malcolm Tutton.

It took all of three pitches for Valezquez to get the swinging strikeout to end the game.

Sunday’s game was a big one for Hixson, but Monday’s game with Signal Mountain is even bigger as the winner advances to the Region, regardless of what happens later.

Hixson coach Colton Green is well aware of what’s at stake on Monday.

“I thought we played a solid game today.  We got those first two runs early, but were able to keep adding to our lead as we came through with some clutch hits,” Green said after his team had improved to 25-8.

“Alex Rollins pitched another complete game and I couldn’t ask for much more than that.  Tomorrow’s game is important.  They got us last time, so we’ll be thinking about that and we’re one win away from tying the school record for wins in a season.  We were 26-11 in 2005 when I was on the team, so I’m sure that might play a role in tomorrow’s game as well.

“I liked our approach at the plate as we played solid defense and got great pitching.  That’s about as complete as it gets,” Green concluded.

While Merriweather and Hutsell had the two hits in the sixth and Deitch the one in the seventh, Dillard Hawkins had a two-out bloop single in the first for Central’s other hit.

The Pounders are now 12-16 for the season.

RED BANK 100 00 – 1 0 3

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  534 9x – 21 13 0

Sullivan, Williams (4), Cagle (4) and Massengale; Witherspoon and Garner.

CENTRAL  000 001 0 – 1 4 1

HIXSON  211 100 x – 5 6 0

Jackson, Ford (2), Jackson (5) and Nation; Rollins, Velazquez (7) and Julian.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)