Lions Stay in First with Win
Lovelady Defeats Normangee, 9-2
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
NORMANGEE – The 2021 baseball season has seen teams scramble to make-up games because of a variety of issues. Snow and ice, rain and COVID-19 are just a few of the reasons why. As a result, the Lovelady Lions were forced to travel to Normangee on Wednesday of this past week to take on the Panthers in a District 21-2A tilt.
Prior to the game, the Lions (9-1) sat in first place with a half-game lead over the Centerville Tigers while the Panthers were holding on to third with a 6-3 mark.
With the postseason right around the corner, a win by Lovelady would clinch the Lions no worse than the second seed out of District 21-2A. A win by Normangee would keep their hopes of a district championship alive, but they would need some help.
The game was close throughout as the Lions seized the lead in the first inning. The Panthers would cut the lead down to 4-2 by the end of the sixth inning, but a five-run rally in the top of the seventh put the game away as Lovelady cruised to the 9-2 win.
Kade Stone got the start for Normangee and retired lead-off man Slade Murray on a groundout to short. Stone got a little wild after that as he plunked EJ Sandoval and Carter Murray to put baserunners at first and second with only one out.
Jaxon Reeves was up next, but struck out looking. Matthew Wheeler followed in the batting order and slapped a shot to short that was booted for an error. The error allowed Sandoval to score while Murray moved to second.
Blake Patrick came in as a courtesy runner for Murray and made his way across home plate on a wild pitch and an error at third. Stone, however, managed to settle down enough to strike out Brenton Crawford to end the Lions’ top of the first.
Carter Murray was on the mound for Lovelady to start the game and the big senior had troubles of his own in the first but managed to get out of the inning unscathed. Murray gave up a lead-off single to Mason Hardy, but when Hardy tried to steal on 1-1 pitch, catcher Slade Murray gunned him down at second.
Logan Luna followed with a single to right, but C. Murray followed up the hit with a four-pitch K of Stone for the second out of the inning. A dropped third strike allowed Izaha Jones to reach but C. Murray came back to force Dalton Stewart to pop-up for the third out.
A quiet second inning gave way to the third where the Lions tacked on a run to extend their lead to 3-1. S. Murray lined out while Sandoval fanned for two quick outs. C. Murray was next up and roped a single to left. Patrick came in for C. Murray as a courtesy runner and when Reeves followed with a double to the gap in left, Patrick motored around the bases to score.
After Stone retired Wheeler to end the top of the third, the Panthers were unable to generate any offense as the game moved into the fourth inning.
Following an uneventful fourth, the Panthers trimmed a run off the Lions’ lead in the bottom of the fifth. Back-to-back errors on the Lovelady infield put Hardy on third base for Normangee and when Stone lofted a deep fly ball to center, Hardy was able to tag up and score.
C. Murray shut the Panthers down after that and when the Lions came into bat, they got the run back. An error on a flyball to center allowed Reeves to reach and two more errors allowed him to cross the plate and push the lead out to 4-1.
Normangee got the run back in the bottom of the inning but that was as close as they would get as the Lions exploded for five runs in the top of the seventh while C. Murray closed out the game in the bottom of the inning with a pair of strikeouts and an infield pop-up.
Murray picked up the win with seven innings of work. He gave up two runs on nine hits, struck out 11 and walked one. Stone took the loss as he pitched seven innings and allowed nine runs on six hits. He also struck out nine and didn’t walk anyone.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
