Lions Take Game One of Series, 10-3

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

GROVETON – After a 0-2 start in District 21-2A, the Lovelady Lions righted the ship to breeze through the rest of their district schedule and lay claim to the District Championship.

As a result, the Lions went into the postseason as the number one seed and drew the number four seed from District 22-2A. That just happened to be a long-time rival of the Lions – the Groveton Indians. While there is a degree of mutual respect between the two teams – make no mistake – there is no love lost when the two schools meet in any type of competitive environment.

Blake Hollis got the start for the Indians and struggled with his control early on. Lovelady’s Jay Thomas Robinson led off the game with a single past short. Hollis got the next two batters – Logan Lowery and Chad Fulgham – to pop up for a pair of outs and it looked as if Robinson’s single might go to waste.

Carter Murray followed Fulgham in the batting order and on a 1-2 pitch, Murray spanked the ball into left field for a double, knocking in Robinson with the game’s first run.

Timothy Johnson was up next and hit a shot to second which was booted for an error. Murray was running on contact and when the ball trickled into the outfield, Murray was able to scamper home, giving the Lions an early 2-0 lead.

Hollis managed to get Jaxson Reeves to ground into a 5-3 force to get out of the top of the first, but when the Indians came to bat, they failed to take advantage of a scoring opportunity.

Murray was on the mound for the Lions and while he also had some control issues, he managed to get out of the inning unscathed. Trent Torregrossa led off with a single, but Murray caught Cade Steubing looking at strike three for the first out.

Chance Hart followed Steubing and slapped a shot past short for a hit. Torregrossa moved to second on the play, but was stranded there after Braxton Terry struck out and Anthony Chavez grounded out to end the inning.

The Lovelady offense exploded in the top of the second, thanks to Groveton mistakes. Lane Kellar was hit by a Hollis pitch and advanced to second on Seth Murray’s sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch moved Kellar to third and when Hollis hit Slade Murray with a pitch, Lovelady had runners at the corners with only one away.

Robinson was up next and drew a walk to load the bases. Next, Hollis gave Lowery the easiest RBI he’ll ever pick up when he walked in a run. Fulgham also drew a walk to push Sl. Murray across the plate.

After the walk to Fulgham, Hollis was yanked as Ryan Luna came in to pitch. C. Murray was up next and he lofted a deep fly ball to right which gave Robinson time to tag up and trot home as the Lions extended their lead to 5-0.

On the play, Lowery moved to third while Fulgham remained at first. Two pitches later, Fulgham stole second to move into scoring position. For the second time in the game, Johnson reached safely on an error. The infield miscue allowed both Lowery and Fulgham to cross the plate and gave the Lions a 7-0 lead.

The Indians finally managed to get out of the inning when Reeves flew out to center field.

When Murray took the mound it seemed like the control issues were gone. He struck out Luna on three pitches and Hollis on four. Martin Chavez was hit by a pitch but Murray coaxed Kaleb Coots to fly out to right to end the inning.

While the Lions threatened in the top of the third, they were unable to generate any runs. The Indians, however, sliced a run off of the Lovelady lead in the bottom of the inning.

Torregrossa led off with a double. Steubing struck out but Hart advanced Torregrossa to third with a single past short. Terry followed in the batting order and reached safely after an error at first. The miscue allowed Torregrossa to score which cut the Lions’ lead to 7-1.

Murray caught a break three pitches later, however, when A. Chavez hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and limit the damage.

Lovelady got the run back when they came to bat in the top of the fourth. Luna got two quick outs to open the frame but Johnson followed with a double into the left field gap. Reeves was up next and he drove in Johnson with a double of his own to push the Lions’ lead back to seven.

After Kellar grounded out to retire the Lovelady batting order, Murray went back to the mound where he worked his way into and out of trouble. He walked Luna to lead off the Indians’ at-bat and Luna moved to second on a wild pitch. Murray got Hollis to swing at a pitch out of the strike zone for strike three and then gave up a hit to M. Chavez, advancing Luna to third.

On the next pitch Koots popped up to second for the second out. Torregrossa followed with a first-pitch line out and what started out as a promising inning for Groveton, ended with the score still 8-1, in favor of Lovelady.

The Indians did add a run to their total in both the fifth inning and the seventh inning, but it was too little, too late as the Lions took a 1-0 series lead after their 10-3 win over the Indians.

Games two and three were played on Saturday, May 4, but as of press time, no scores were available.

Will Johnson may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

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