Gallery by Tina Laney
Shady Spring pitcher Alex Johnston had seen his fair share of tough times against Independence.
Saturday afternoon at Joseph H. Goddard Field, he erased those tough memories with a little help from his friends.
Backed by two inning-ending double plays and a dart from Tyler Mackey in right field, Shady Spring stunned top-ranked Independence 8-2 to win the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 championship.
“We have had a chip on our shoulder from last year and that heartbreaker. I told my kids all year that we were playing for May,” Shady Spring head coach Jordan Meadows said. “We have been No. 4 or No. 5 all year. You can call it an upset, but I had all the confidence in my team, and Johnston, what a game he pitched today!”
Ironically, last year the two county rivals were in the same win-or-go-home situation.
With his team leading 1-0 in the sixth inning, Johnston was touched-up for four runs including a two-run blast that gave Independence the sectional title.
“We all remembered what happened last year. It was the same situation in the championship,” Johnston recalled. “I just knew that I had to step up and get it done, especially being a senior, and my team made some great plays behind me today. We have had some struggles with errors, myself included. Two double plays today, you couldn’t ask for anything more, and Mackey has been great all year.”
Meadows said he had a good feeling about the game, especially with Johnston on the hill.
“We talked this morning during (batting practice) and I told him today was his day. He has prom tonight and there is a lot of senior stuff going on. I told him to just throw strikes and have fun. You never know what can happen and look what he did,” Meadows said.
Both teams battled through missed opportunities in the first two frames before Evan Belcher scored Josh Lovell with a two-out single giving Shady a 1-0 lead in the third.
Elijah Farrington opened the bottom of the third with a solid single and after back-to-back walks, Indy had the bases loaded with just one out.
The Shady Spring defense made the first game-changing play when a ground ball to Cameron Manns at shortstop was flipped to Colten Tate at second who rifled the relay over to first for the double play.
“That was a big momentum swing right there. I thought if we could have scored early, the game might be a little different,” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “We got behind just enough that we couldn’t be quite as aggressive.”
The Tigers were just getting started with the defensive gems.
With a runner at second base and two outs, Independence catcher Atticus Goodson hit a soft single to right field.
What looked like a game-tying RBI went by the boards when Mackey gathered the ball and came up firing.
Shady Spring catcher Tyler Reed gathered the ball and made a perfect tag at the plate to save the run.
“That is professional type stuff. Double plays and a throw from the outfield. It is just not stuff you see all the time in high school baseball,” Meadows said. “You don’t really work on that kind of stuff. (Reed) hasn’t caught much at all for us, but we had to put him there and he played well.”
Mackey’s throw brought an eruption from the Shady Spring fanbase and the momentum spilled over to the plate in the fifth inning.
After an Independence error allowed one run to score on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Tate launched a drive over the left field fence for a two-run homer, giving Shady a 4-0 lead.
“I have been struggling all year at the plate. I was just looking for contact and I ended up getting the barrel on it and sending it over. It felt amazing,” Tate said, smiling.
Farrington collected his third single of the day to open the bottom of the fifth, but another double play by the Shady middle infield ended any hopes for Indy again.
“Early on it is 1-0 and we get the double play and then the throw from Mackey in the outfield. Then we come up and hit the home run to take the 4-0 lead,” Meadows said. “I didn’t think four runs were enough, so we played some small ball towards the end of the game to get some cushion.”
Shady Spring broke it open in the seventh when Manns led off with a double and Tate followed with a run-scoring double to the same part of the field.
An infield hit from Mackey and two Indy errors led to three more runs, giving Shady an 8-0 lead.
Independence mounted a threat in the bottom of the seventh inning with back-to-back walks which brought on senior David Young to pitch for the Tigers.
Although Shady’s only error of the game allowed two runs to score, Young secured the win with a fly ball and two strikeouts.
“Young is a senior, so what else can you ask for? I just told him, one out at a time and he had two strikeouts to finish the game,” Meadows said.
“I thought they did a really good job today. Johnston pitched excellent and they executed when they needed too. We had some bad luck when we needed to get a bounce,” Cuthbert said. “We had a one-hopper to the shortstop and I don’t know if we have hit into two double plays all year. It is what it is, but this is a tough one.”
SS: 001 030 4 – 8 11 1
I: 000 000 2 – 2 5 3
WP: Alex Johnston; LP: Clay Basham
Hitting – SS: Jacob Meadows 1-3; Tyler Mackey 1-4 (rbi), Josh Lovell 2-5, Aden Seabolt 1-5, Alex Johnston (rbi), Adam Richmond 1-2, Evan Belcher 1-4 (rbi), Cameron Manns 1-2 (sac, 2b), Colten Tate 3-4 (HR, 2b, 3 rbi); I: Atticus Goodson 1-4, Elijah Farrington 3-4, Michael McKinney 1-4.