| Sports
Pioneers win 4th state title in 'great game' By Paul Glover, Guard Sports Editor
FAYETTEVILLE - Two days earlier, Sylvan Hills Coach Denny Tipton called it. "It'll be a great game," he said. Saturday night, just a few minutes after the Batesville Pioneers had edged the Sylvan Hills Bears 4-3 in the Class AAAA State Tournament high school baseball championship game, Tipton, with a little glint in his eye and a knowing smile, said, "It was a great ballgame." The Pioneers won because they made the most big plays and the last big play in a game chock full of them. The last one came with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, the second extra inning, when Grant Gatlin laced a tie-breaking, game-winning single into left field, and Woody Skinner ran home and into a swarm of Pioneer arms and bodies. "It was an outside fastball," Gatlin, a left-handed hitter, said. "I just hit it where it was pitched." Skinner, who hit three for five, scored two runs and drove in another, started the winning rally with a double over the first-base bag. With two outs, Skinner scampered to third when Jeremy Burba's hard-hit ball went to the left side. Sylvan Hills' shortstop Brandon Eller stopped the ball with a crossover, backhanded move, but was unable to field the ball cleanly or quickly enough to make a throw. Officially, it was scored as an error. Both coaches disagree. "They must have been asleep on that one," Batesville Coach Stuart Smith said. "That's a hit all the way." "A hit, absolutely," Tipton said. "He (Eller) did a great job stopping it. If it gets through, Batesville wins the game right there." Three pitches later, Gatlin delivered the winner. Two innings earlier, with two out and runners on first and second, Tipton had chosen to not pitch to Gatlin, intentionally walking him. Three pitches later, Patrick Smith, who also totaled three hits on the day, ripped a line drive that center fielder Zach Turpin caught while running to his right. "I can tell you why Coach Tipton walked Grant, because I asked him," Smith said. "Patrick was three for four and had hit that shot in his previous at-bat. He said he didn't want to give Patrick another chance to win it." The Pioneers won it against Cody Duncan, the Bears' senior right-handed ace, who had started and shut out the Pioneers in last season's state championship game. Duncan had started and pitched five innings in a 6-2 semifinal win over Greenwood on Thursday, then he was called on in the seventh after Brad Fletcher had doubled to the base of the wall in right against Jeremiah Peters, another senior righty, who had relieved Chase Elder, a left-handed junior and the starter, in the fourth inning. Tipton said there wasn't any question in his or Duncan's mind that he was ready to pitch Saturday. "There was no concern. He was fine; ready to go," Tipton said. The Pioneers' other runs came in the first and fourth innings. In the first, Kyle Francis and Skinner singled, stole third and second, respectively, Francis scored on Jeremy Burba's ground out, and Smith's 2-out single scored Skinner. In the fourth, Weldon Davis walked and scored on Skinner's 2-out single. The Bears got on the board in the third when Matt Presson doubled and scored on Kent Taylor's sacrifice fly. They tied it in the sixth when Duncan, Zach Turpin and Nathan Harper hit consecutive singles, Burba hit Elder with a pitch, forcing in a run, and Presson hit an infield single. And that's when the tide suddenly turned back Batesville's way. Peters, the next batter, missed the ball on an attempted squeeze bunt play, and Skinner, the catcher, ran Harper into a tag out by third baseman Rogers. Peters then grounded into a force out at second, ending the inning. With one out in the seventh, Kent Taylor tripled but he was caught too far off base and tagged out by Burba, after he had leapt high off the mound to snare Eller's hard-hit ground ball. The Pioneers got out of the inning when second baseman Anthony Rhodes caught Duncan's ground ball just off the heels of Eller, who was running to second base, and first baseman Fletcher held onto Rhodes' throw, despite being decked by Duncan just a split second after the throw arrived. In the eighth, Pioneer Andy Rogers provided the big play. After Elder had reached with a 2-out single, Rogers, playing third, dived to his left, knocked down Presson's hot 1-hopper, and then threw from his knees to force out Elder and end the inning. In the ninth, Rhodes, Francis and Fletcher combined for an inning-ending double play, Rhodes started it, fielding Taylor's sharply-hit ball almost behind the second base bag, flipping it to shortstop Francis, who fired the ball to Fletcher, who caught the ball just ahead of the straining Taylor. A few minutes later came Gatlin's hit and the Pioneers' 31st victory in 36 games. It was also their 16th win in a row and gave the 15-year-old program its fourth state championship. Seven Batesville High teams have played in state championship games. Thirteen teams - every team, beginning in 1992 - have played in the state tournament. The Bears, who finished this season with a 27-4 record, have the same sort of tradition and a longer history. They've appeared in 34 state tournaments, nine state championship games and won five titles. Considering the schools' past and present teams, no wonder Tipton was so sure about the spectacular. "I know it's what we wanted - the two best teams playing in the final game, just like it should be. I really believe most people would say Sylvan Hills and Batesville are the two best teams in Class AAAA, and I think we've both shown that we are," he said. Batesville's coach said it took every last Pioneer to beat the Bears. "That's why I'm so proud of all of them. Everybody in that lineup did something on Saturday - a good offensive play, a good defensive play, something - that helped us win," Smith said. R H E Sylvan Hills 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 3 10 1 Batesville 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 10 1 Chase Elder, Jeremiah Peters (4), Cody Duncan (7) and Chad Taylor; Grant Gatlin, Jeremy Burba (6) and Woody Skinner. WP - Burba, 14-0; LP - Duncan, 8-2 2B - Matt Presson (SH); Skinner (B), Brad Fletcher (B); 3B - Kent Taylor (SH) |
