Shutout!

Will’s Sandy Plains Wildcats team shut out a Cherokee County team 5 – 0 Wednesday night. Earlier in the evening the Cherokee team had easily beaten the Prowlers, considered by some to be the best Sandy Plains team.

For the first four innings Will played great defense at shortstop. In the first Will had to charge an infield bouncer, and barely threw the runner out at first. Then in the second inning Will went deep in the hole to backhand a grounder. He turned and quickly made the long throw to first without stepping, again barely nailing the runner.

In the third inning a grounder rolled through the grass slowly. The third-baseman should’ve cut the ball off, but didn’t. Will charged in and quickly scooped the ball up and threw in one motion, but the batter barely beat the throw for an infield hit.

Will led off the second inning by walking on a 3 – 1 pitch. He stole second on the first pitch, sliding in headfirst while throwing up a lot of dirt. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, but was stranded there. In the third Will solidly connected, sending a line drive deep to center, but the ball was caught.

The Wildcats led 3 – 0 when Will was brought in to pitch in the 5th inning with one on and one out. He struck out the first batter on three strikes, then struck out the next batter with a 2 – 2 off-speed pitch.

In the 6th Will left a pitch up in the strike zone, and the batter lined it back up the middle, and Will almost caught the ball. Will struck out the next batter, the lineup’s toughest hitter. The next batter grounded to first baseman Nick, who immediately threw home. His throw came in high, but the umpire still called the runner out, drawing protests from the opposing coaches and crowd. The next batter flew out, completing a 14 pitch inning.

After the Wildcats added two more runs, Will closed out the game in the top of the seventh. The first batter reached first and was allowed to steal second and third. Will struck out the next batter looking. After a low pitch got past Vince the catcher, Vince chased the ball to the backstop and flipped to Will with plenty of time to get the runner. There was a lot of the ball showing in Will’s glove, but he covered it with his bare hand as the runner slid in. Now with two out, the next batter grounded sharply back at Will, who speared the ball and took several steps toward first before throwing the batter out.

Will finished with four strikeouts and no walks, facing just nine batters in 2-2/3 innings. He threw 27 strikes and only 12 balls.