Playoff baseball ends for the Cougars.
Blaine Rowland drew the start at pitcher for the Cougars in this game. The lead-off batter for Newsome popped out to the center fielder Devin Suero. The second batter popped up to the left fielder Tyler Macpherson. For the third out, Rowland got his first strike out of the game.
Nick April-Gath led off for the Cougars and popped out to center field on his first at bat. Rowland grounded out to the first baseman for the second out of the inning. Noah Morales also grounded out to first to end the inning. Both teams were looking for their first hits of the game as they went to the second inning.
Rowland struck out the first batter of the second inning, his second in a row. The first base runner of the game was the second batter of the inning for Newsome as he was hit by Rowland. The third batter of the inning for Newsome hit it foul but it was tracked down on an amazing effort by Jackson McClellan to get the second out. Rowland got his third strikeout of the game, which left a Newsome runner on second.
Chase Mobley led off for the Cougars in the bottom of the second and flew out to left field. Brantley Hayward struck out on a good at bat, really making the Newsome pitcher work for the out. Tyler Macpherson struck out but reached first as the catcher dropped it and could not get it to the first baseman in time. Jackson McClellan popped up to center field and the score remained 0-0.
Rowland struck out his fourth batter of the game to kick off the top of the third inning. The second batter of the inning grounded out to April-Gath for the second out of the inning. Rowland walked the third batter of the inning, which was Newsome’s second man on base at this point in the game. Rowland finished the inning with his fifth strikeout of the game.
Brady Kelly struck out in the bottom of the third for the first out. Suero grounded out to 2nd on the first pitch of the at bat. April-Gath was back up and he hit it nicely down the middle, but the Newsome second baseman made a great play to get the out to end the inning.
Rowland was still on the mound to start the fourth inning. The lead-off Newsome batter popped up foul to the first baseman Pete Oderio for the out. Rowland walked the second batter of the inning. The third batter of the inning grounded into a force out to the third baseman Jackson McClellan, who got the runner out on second. The top of the fourth ended with a Newsome batter hitting it right to Rowland for an easy scoop throw to Oderio for the third out.
Rowland led off for the Cougars in the bottom of the fourth and hit it to the Newsome third baseman for the first out. Morales struck out on his second at bat of the game for the second out of the inning. Mobley grounded out to the Newsome third baseman to end the inning, with the score sitting at 0-0.
Rowland started the top of the fifth inning, striking out the lead off Newsome batter, for his 6th strikeout of the game. Rowland walked the second batter of the inning but rebounded nicely, as Newsome grounded into a double play.
Hayward and Tyler both flew out to right field for the first two outs of the inning. McClellan hit it up the middle and reached first base safely due to a bad throw from the second baseman, but McClellan was out advancing to second to end the inning with the score still 0-0.
The top of the sixth started off well for Newsome as they got a lead off single. The second batter for Newsome swung on the first pitch and got a single that went right over second baseman Brady Kelly’s head. There were 2 on, and no outs for Newsome. Just like the lead off batter, Newsome got another single off soft contact to third which loaded the bases with no outs. Newsome got their fourth single in a row, which resulted in the first run of the game being scored. The next batter hit a sacrifice fly to left field getting out, but scored another run for Newsome on the tag out. Rowland caught a hard hit ball from the following batter and threw the runner out on second before he could tag out. Newsome scored two runs in the sixth.
Kelly and Suero both grounded out to the Newsome shortstop for the first two outs of the inning. April-Gath flew out to left field for the third out.
In the top of the seventh, the Cougars were trailing 2-0 and Gehrig Graham entered the game to pitch for Durant. Graham struck out the leadoff Newsome hitter on a full count for the first out. The second Newsome batter grounded out to Kelly for the second out of the inning. Graham got a 3 up, 3 down on Newsome as their third batter flew out to the right fielder Chase Mobley.
Rowland led off for Durant in the bottom of the seventh and struck out on a full count. Morales struck out as well for the second out. Mobley kept the game alive with a nice hit that went over the second baseman’s head. Hayward followed up with a single of his own, a ball that bounced over the third baseman’s head. Tristan Brown came in as a pinch hitter for Durant. Before he got a chance to bat, Newsome brought in a new pitcher. A wild pitch advanced both runners to second and third. Newsome ended up getting the out and winning the game 2-0.
When asked about preparations for the next game against Palm Harbor, Coach Valdez said, “We are working out some of the kinks but what we’ve been doing has worked for the most part. We tipped our hats to Newsome and now Palm Harbor gets the revenge game.
Durant lost to Palm Harbor 6-0 in a tough game. Congratulations to Durant on a 21-5 season!
