A dogpile at home plate and water cooler bath for coach Josh Wilson put the exclamation point on Mount Airy’s championship victory over Starmount.
The No. 1-seeded Granite Bears put up 10 runs across five innings in the Northwest 1A Conference Tournament Championship game. Seniors Kamden Hawks and Rylan Venable also combined to throw a no-hitter in the May 3 shutout.
The 10-0 victory gave Mount Airy a sweep of the NW1A Conference’s top prizes as the Bears captured the NW1A Regular Season Championship – the program’s first in 56 years – with a perfect 12-0 record.
Friday’s game marked the Bears’ eighth shutout, sixth game decided by at least 10 runs and 21st-consecutive win of the season. The victory also tied a school record with 21 wins in a season, a feat last accomplished in the program in 1939 (via Mount Airy sports historian Doug McDaniel).
In addition to the top team honors, Mount Airy won three of the four major individual awards presented at the conference tournament: Landon Cox was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, Hawks was named NW1A Player of the Year and Wilson earned Coach of the Year honors.
The remaining individual award, NW1A Pitcher of the Year, went to South Stokes’ Maddox Nelson.
Three Bears were named to the NW1A All-Tournament Team in addition to Cox: Hawks, Venable and Brison George. The Bears were joined on the All-Tournament Team by: South Stokes’ Nelson, East Wilkes’ Jake Luffman, and Starmount’s Hayden Royal, Aydan Parks and Brayden Snow.
Bears maul the Rams
Mount Airy (21-1) was held scoreless in the first inning of Friday’s game, which was hosted by North Stokes, but piled on six runs during the second inning.
Hawks reached first on a fielding error to begin the bottom of the second. Hawks’ courtesy runner Fletcher Gallimore moved to second base on a ground out, then moved to third on a dropped third strike. Landon Gallimore scored Fletcher with a ground ball to left field that also moved George all the way to third.
Landon Gallimore stole second base with Bryson Grey at the plate. Grey grounded out at first to score George and move Landon to third before Camdyn Easter scored Landon with a single.
Starmount’s Preston Williams took over on the mound for Nohr Issa following Easter’s hit. Williams’ first batter, Venable, hit a line drive that bounced off the fence in center field for a double that brought Easter home. Venable went to third on a passed ball, then scored Mount Airy’s fifth run on a wild pitch thrown to Ian Gallimore. Ian, who was walked, scored the Bears’ final run of the inning by stealing second, going to third on an error and dashing home on a wild pitch.
Two of Starmount’s four total baserunners were put on first in the top of the third inning after being walked, but both were left stranded.
Hawks and Cox each singled to begin the bottom of the third. George scored Fletcher Gallimore, again running for Hawks, with a fielder’s choice, then Landon Gallimore recorded his second RBI of the night.
Mount Airy put up its final two runs of the night when Ian Gallimore and Cox scored on wild pitches in the fourth and fifth innings respectively.
Pitching
Starmount
Nohr Issa — 1 2/3 IP, 1K, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 2 H, 4 R
Preston Williams — 3 IP, 2K, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 5 H, 6 R
Mount Airy
Kamden Hawks — 3.1 IP, 7 K, 3 BB, 0 HBP, 0 H, 0 R
Rylan Venable — 1.2 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 0 H, 0 R
Scoring
(2) Starmount — 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, X, X — 0
(1) Mount Airy — 0, 6, 2, 1, 1, X, X — 10
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