Elliott No-Hits Latexo
Sandie Bats Come Alive in 21-0 Win
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – Entering Friday night’s contest against the Latexo Tigers, the Grapeland Sandies were 3-1 in District 21-2A competition and all three of their district wins had been nailbiters, to say the least.
The Sandies scored two in the sixth to pull out an 8-6 win over Lovelady. They scored two in the seventh to take down Leon, 4-3, and they needed six runs in the ninth to hold off Normangee.
Against their neighbors to the south in Latexo, however, Grapeland scored early and often to put the game out of reach in the early innings. At the plate, Grapeland pounded out 12 hits which produced 16 RBI while drawing 12 walks on their way to a 21-0 win.
Not only were the Sandies’ bats on fire, but Jace Elliott was on the mound for Grapeland and he was throwing darts. Elliott threw a five-inning, no-hitter against the Tigers as he only faced two batters over the minimum. He struck out 12, walked one and hit a batter during his 62-pitch outing.
As the game got underway, Elliott struck out the side in the top of the first while his teammates plated five in the bottom half of the inning. The biggest blow came on a Cole Goolsby triple which drove in a pair of runs.
The second inning was another easy one from Elliott and was followed by a 10-run explosion from Grapeland in their half of the frame. The Sandies nearly batted around twice as Goolsby tripled for the second time in two innings to help put Grapeland up 15-0.
Grapeland plated two more in the third and another four in the fourth thanks in part to a two-run double from Peyton Prater. That made the score 21-0 after four complete innings which allowed the game to be called after the top of the fifth.
Goolsby was 3-3 at the dish with four RBI, three runs scored and a pair of walks. Prater was 3-4 with three RBI, four runs scored and a walk. Slade Harris went 2-4 with three RBI, three runs scored and a walk. In addition, Kristian Sparks was 1-2 with two RBI and a run scored while Jason DeCluette was 1-3 with four RBI, a run scored and a walk.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
