Faith Christian steals home then earns victory in extra innings
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Luke Mills stretched his lead off third base a step or two further with each pitch Halifax Academy's Luke Blackman threw from the windup, testing just how far he could get without drawing attention.
With two outs in the seventh inning and Faith Christian trailing by a single run, Mills finally looked over at Patriots coach Greg Clifton and requested permission to steal home.
Clifton obliged, and Mills took off with Blackman oblivious to slide in head-first with the game-tying run.
One inning later, Faith Christian sophomore Landon Silveri executed a safety squeeze bunt to perfection to score eighth-grader Sam Mills, capping off an improbable 3-2 triumph on Friday night.
"Some guys stepped up (Friday) who aren't the star players," Clifton said. "Our six, seven and eight hitters got it done for us in the last inning. That's what it's going to take."
Halifax Academy players looked as if they'd seen ghosts as Faith Christian celebrated down the first-base line around Silveri, a sophomore who said he'd never had a walk-off hit of any kind.
"I was scared because I bunted the ball right back at (Blackman), running down the first base line with my head turned around," Silveri said. "Luke just came running at me and I was trying not to get hurt."
The right-handed Blackman threw 135 pitches for Halifax and struck out 11. He was 'effectively wild,' according to Luke Mills, getting Patriots batters to swing at pitches off the plate even when behind in the count.
By the seventh inning, though, Blackman was well above 100 pitches and tiring quickly.
Eli Ess led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single, Luke Mills walked, and Jacob Pridgen singled to center, loading the bases for Landen Roupp.
Roupp drove Ess home with a sacrifice fly to right-center that could have been more if not for a diving grab by center fielder Landon Poole.
Braxton Varnell struck out for the second out of the inning; Luke Mills said he could've tried to steal home but didn't want to take the bat out of Varnell's hands.
With right-hander Ben Lewis at the plate and Blackman losing track of him at third base and slow with his delivery to home plate, Mills couldn't wait any longer.
"I knew I was going to get there as soon as I took off," Mills said. "I felt like I had to do it and wound up getting a perfect jump."
Lewis swung at Blackman's pitch, which went all the way to the backstop. If Lewis hadn't gotten to a two-strike count, Clifton was going to attempt another steal of home with Jacob Pridgen.
After seven mostly-clean innings, Halifax Academy finally came undone in the eighth.
Sam Mills and Matt Sanderford both reached on throwing errors by third baseman Collin Smith and stood at second and third with nobody out.
All Silveri had to do was bunt a strike, and he got it down.
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Luke Mills stretched his lead off third base a step or two further with each pitch Halifax Academy's Luke Blackman threw from the windup, testing just how far he could get without drawing attention.
With two outs in the seventh inning and Faith Christian trailing by a single run, Mills finally looked over at Patriots coach Greg Clifton and requested permission to steal home.
Clifton obliged, and Mills took off with Blackman oblivious to slide in head-first with the game-tying run.
One inning later, Faith Christian sophomore Landon Silveri executed a safety squeeze bunt to perfection to score eighth-grader Sam Mills, capping off an improbable 3-2 triumph on Friday night.
"Some guys stepped up (Friday) who aren't the star players," Clifton said. "Our six, seven and eight hitters got it done for us in the last inning. That's what it's going to take."
Halifax Academy players looked as if they'd seen ghosts as Faith Christian celebrated down the first-base line around Silveri, a sophomore who said he'd never had a walk-off hit of any kind.
"I was scared because I bunted the ball right back at (Blackman), running down the first base line with my head turned around," Silveri said. "Luke just came running at me and I was trying not to get hurt."
The right-handed Blackman threw 135 pitches for Halifax and struck out 11. He was 'effectively wild,' according to Luke Mills, getting Patriots batters to swing at pitches off the plate even when behind in the count.
By the seventh inning, though, Blackman was well above 100 pitches and tiring quickly.
Eli Ess led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single, Luke Mills walked, and Jacob Pridgen singled to center, loading the bases for Landen Roupp.
Roupp drove Ess home with a sacrifice fly to right-center that could have been more if not for a diving grab by center fielder Landon Poole.
Braxton Varnell struck out for the second out of the inning; Luke Mills said he could've tried to steal home but didn't want to take the bat out of Varnell's hands.
With right-hander Ben Lewis at the plate and Blackman losing track of him at third base and slow with his delivery to home plate, Mills couldn't wait any longer.
"I knew I was going to get there as soon as I took off," Mills said. "I felt like I had to do it and wound up getting a perfect jump."
Lewis swung at Blackman's pitch, which went all the way to the backstop. If Lewis hadn't gotten to a two-strike count, Clifton was going to attempt another steal of home with Jacob Pridgen.
After seven mostly-clean innings, Halifax Academy finally came undone in the eighth.
Sam Mills and Matt Sanderford both reached on throwing errors by third baseman Collin Smith and stood at second and third with nobody out.
All Silveri had to do was bunt a strike, and he got it down.