Cougars Make Quarterfinals
It’s on to round two of the state playoffs for the Piedmont Academy baseball team.
The Diamond Cougars (17-5 overall) swept visiting Crisp Academy last week and is now preparing for the GISA Class AA state quarterfinals this week.
Piedmont will face Citizens Christian in a best-of-three series with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Games Friday are set for 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. A third game, if necessary, would be Saturday, also on the road.
Piedmont defeated the Crisp Academy Wildcats 7-6 in 11 innings in game one of the opening round and then cruised to a 14-0 victory in game two to close out the series. The Cougars held a late lead in the opening game of the series but Crisp Academy managed to extend the contest with four runs.
“They were very resilient,” Piedmont coach Wes Tanner said. “They battled us tooth and nail. It was a back and forth game. We seemed to build a comfortable cushion but they battled right back.”
Chase Porter had the game winning RBI. Mack Brady (2-for-4 with three runs scored), Jay Sheets (2-for-5 with a run), Michael Edwards (2-for-4 with a run and two RBI) and Sam Wright (1-for-3) also helped lead the offense in game one.
Edwards and Rob Allgood both had doubles for Tanner’s team while Sheets homered. Edwards had four stolen bases while Tyler Mills and Brady both had one.
Wright pitched the first 6.2 innings before Tate Marks pitched the rest of the contest (4.1 innings) Wright had three strikeouts while Marks fanned six batters.
Crisp Academy trailed 6-2 going into the top of the seventh inning in game one but managed to push four runs across to keep the contest alive. After Piedmont failed to score in the bottom half of the inning it would take four extra innings before either team could score.
The game-winning run finally crossed home in the bottom of the 11th.
Game two was a different story as the Cougars took an early lead and gave starting pitcher Mack Brady plenty of runs to work with. Brady did not allow a hit in five innings of work while striking out nine batters.
Offensively, Sheets was 3 for-4 with three RBI while Porter was 2-for-3 with a run and five RBI. Mills was 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI and Wright compiled a 3-for-4 day at the plate with two runs and an RBI. Allgood was 1-for-2 with two RBI.
“We made all the routine plays,” Tanner said of the series clincher. “We jumped on them early and that set a good tone. Mack did a good job of attacking the strike zone.”
Piedmont scored two runs in the top of the first as the designated visiting team in game two and then scored six more in the top of the second and two more in the third. With Crisp Academy struggling offensively, four additional runs by the Cougars in the top of the fourth would be more than enough to close out the opening-round series.
Despite scoring 14 runs, Piedmont still left 11 runners on base in game two.
Up next for Piedmont will be a long road trip to Douglas to face Citizens Christian, the number one seed from Region 2–AA. The Patriots, who are 13-6 overall, did not have an opening round series due to the way the brackets were set up.
“We certainly respect them because they won their region,” Tanner said. “We have to go their place and find a way to defeat them. That’s never easy in the playoffs.”
While Citizens Christian did not play last week, Piedmont will also have a week between contests. While that is a longer-than-usual span between games, Tanner said he likes the time between series. The team plans to leave early Friday morning for that afternoon’s doubleheader.