RINGGOLD, Ga. — For the third time in three series, the Ringgold Tigers will have to go the distance to advance in the GHSA Class AAA basebal playoffs.
They split a quarterfinal doubleheader Tuesday, defeating Rutland 11-3 before losing 4-2.
The deciding game will be today at 1 p.m. at Bill Womack Field.
“We’ve been here, and it’s one of those things where you’ve got to come out here and play with some enthusiasm and confidence, and we should do that,” Ringgold coach Brent Tucker said. “I think there was a letdown (in the second game), but later in the game we were trying to get it back up, and we hit some balls right at them. We didn’t get any clutch hits and they did.
The Tigers (25-9) rolled in game one behind sophomore Matthew Crownover, who pitched a four-hitter with no earned runs and 14 strikeouts and hit two two-run homers to lead a 14-hit attack
Rutland (17-12) made it interesting with a three-run fifth inning to cut the lead to 5-3. All three runs scored on Blake Shouse’s double, with Austin Storrey scoring easily from second. The other two runs, though, were anything routine. The Tigers appeared to have Rutland’s Hunter Spivey out by 10 feet at home, but Spivey leaped over Ringgold catcher Caleb Jones, his heel touching the plate.
Jones, believing Spivey had not touched the plate, chased him to the Rutland dugout. As the umpire was calling him safe, Shouse kept running and scored the third run easily.
Undaunted, Ringgold scored two runs in the bottom half on Adam Weldon’s single and added four in the sixth on RBI hits from Corey Kafka and Erik Hull.
Game two belonged to Shouse, who quieted the Ringgold bats. Though he struck out only two, he allowed just four hits, all singles. Shouse also was 3-for-3 at the plate with a first-inning RBI.
“Their pitcher came out and did a great job,” Tucker said. “He worked both sides of the plate and kept the ball down. We knew they had three good pitchers, and we’ve seen two of them.”
The second game was tied at 2 after Ringgold scored twice in the third inning on Jones’ single and a wild pitch, but the Cavaliers came back with two of their own in the third on consecutive RBI singles from Chance Gordon and Will Jester, who had hit a solo homer in the second.
Ringgold nearly tied the game in the sixth when Crownover hit a deep blast to right-center with two outs and a runner on. But the wind, which had changed directions several times during the afternoon, was blowing in, and Rutland right fielder Brian Tucker caught the ball leaning against the fence.
“I thought I tied it up, but this place is just like Wrigley Field: The wind is either blowing 10 miles an hour out or in, and it was blowing in there,” Crownover said. “That was probably the best one I hit, but I got it up in the air and the wind killed it.”
Ringgold put two runners on with two out in the seventh, but Shouse got Adam Weldon to end the game on a fielder’s choice.
“We knew we were fighting for our playoff lives, so we had to come out fighting,” Rutland coach Wally Pritchard said. “Blake kept them off balance, something he always does a good job with. We had a couple of errors behind him that made it closer than it should have been. I’ve got six kids I could throw tomorrow, so it could be pitcher-by-committee.”