VIDALIA, Ga. (WSAV) – Junior Walker Moncus didn’t think that his big hit in the sixth inning had enough height to clear the wall at first.
“Honestly, I didn’t think it was going. I thought I hit it too low and it was going to hit the wall. I can’t even describe how it felt. That’s as happy as I’ve ever been in my life.”
That feeling was mutual between him and his teammates as Vidalia knocked off Lovett, 5-4, in Game 3 of the Class 2A GHSA semifinals to punch a ticket to Statesboro for the state championship game against Thomasville.
Vidalia will join the Metter Tigers, who earned their bid to the A-Private state title on Monday night.
The day started as deja vu for Vidalia, which also played a Game 3 against Lovett in the state semifinals last year, losing 8-7. They quickly announced their intentions to flip that outcome around with a two-run triple in the bottom of the first inning by Hughes Graham. One play later, Moncus grounded to first, allowing Graham to cross home plate and making the score 3-1.
Lovett pushed across two runs in the top of the second and then tacked on one more in the third on a slow chopper from Connor Partin to take a 4-3 lead.
That’s how it would stay until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Moncus strode to the plate with one out and a runner on first base. On a 1-0 count, Marcus leapt on a fastball, sending it over the left field fence and giving Vidalia a 5-4 lead.
Lovett got baserunners on first and second with no outs, but pitcher Kevin Cox induced a pop-up bunt attempt, which he caught for out number one. Cox then wheeled around and threw to first, forcing the runner who did not tag up in time.
Cox then induced Daniel Sams to fly out to right field to end the game.
“It feels so much better,” Cox said. “The fact that it was the team that put us out last year and they beat us first game, we had to go beat them two times, they did the same thing to us last year, that’s what makes it even better.”
“We’ve been playing with the same group of guys since we were six years old,” Moncus said. “For one thing only. We put time in and work in practice every day, sweating for it. And the fact that it finally happened, it feels really good.”
Vidalia will play Thomasville on Monday, May 23 at 5 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium. Game Two of that series will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. Should a Game 3 be necessary, it would be played on Tuesday, May 24 at noon.
Metter will follow in the A-Public title game on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. A potential Game 3 would be the following day, Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p.m.