Sawmills shocker:

Watauga upsets

defending 4A-champ

South Caldwell
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

SAWMILLS — Merely upsetting No. 4-ranked South Caldwell 1-0 wasn’t enough for Watauga. The Pioneers right-handed pitching ace, Tyler Moore, made sure the Pioneers got style points in the process.

Pitching at Spartans Field on a crisp Monday night, Moore held the defending 4-A state champions to one infield hit in seven innings work, helping give the Pioneers their biggest victory since 2000 when they reached the semifinals of the state 4-A playoffs.

In fact, Pioneers coach Pete Hardee called the win “one of the biggest in the school’s history.” After Moore threw out Spencer Smith on a ground ball to end the game, the Pioneers celebrated by jumping on each other in a massive dogpile in front of their first base dugout.

Then again, the Pioneers had good reason to celebrate. They snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Spartans, which included a Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament game last year that ended in a 10-0 South victory.

“I tell you, I was physically ill those last three innings,” Hardee said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt that much pressure because of how many times we’ve tried to get the job done. It takes a heck of an effort to beat South Caldwell. Tonight, we rose to the challenge.”

Though they did not face Madison Bumgarner, South Caldwell’s former hard-throwing lefty who was the 10th overall pick in the Major League draft last summer and who pitched in all of those nine Watauga losses, they did face another hard-throwing pitcher in Jimmy Messer. A North Carolina signee, Messer gave up four hits, three of them singles, and Watauga’s lone run was unearned.

“We took things for granted,” South Caldwell coach Jeff Parham said. “We thought we were going to win because we had Jimmy Messer on the mound and I’ll take Jimmy Messer any time on the mound that we’re going to win. You’ve got to score runs and we didn’t score tonight.”

Messer, who has hit the 93-mile per hour barrier with his fastball, was 15-0 last year. He pitched the final game of the season, which gave South Caldwell a state championship 10-0 victory over Wilmington Ashley.

He struck out 12 Pioneers Monday night.

“We’ve had Madison pitch against us every time,” said senior second baseman Ethan Moyer, who was still breathless from the postgame celebration. “But we had a new and even a better test in Messer tonight. We were so psyched up before the game. I’ve never experienced that much adrenaline before. We had to get behind our pitcher and that’s what we did. He pitched probably the best game I’ve ever seen in my life.”

True, the post-game spotlight was shining on Moore, Watauga’s lanky right-hander. Moore did not overpower the Spartans (6-1, 1-1 NWC) with his fastball. Instead, he used excellent control with off-speed pitches to hold South Caldwell to an infield hit by Lucas Jackson in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“His slider was working all game,” Watauga catcher Adam Church said. “Everything was working for him. He was the man tonight on the mound.”

Actually, Jackson’s hit bounced off of Moore’s glove and then went to shortstop Cal Hardee, who did not have enough time to make a throw. Watauga was clinging to a 1-0 lead at the time and when Hardee went to visit with Moore, the pitcher wanted to at least finish the game.

“He just said ‘Coach, I need to just settle down for a minute,’” Hardee said. “He got overwhelmed by everything. He settled down and did an unbelievable job tonight. I can’t be more proud of Moore. What a kid.”

Church had confidence that Moore would finish what he started.

“Just finish it out,” Church said. “He pitched a heck of a game and we knew he was going to go all the way.”

Watauga scored the only run it needed in the fifth inning off a bizarre string of events. Jake Wallace led off by being hit by a pitch. The next batter, Daniel Baker, bunted Wallace over to second, but reached base when South Caldwell third baseman Cody Penny threw the ball past first baseman Cody Prestwood.

The ball took a strange bounce from the fence and into right field, where right fielder Tyler Dillard threw a strike to catcher Brad Chavis to cut down Wallace, who tried to score on the play.

Baker, however, reached second on the play, and scored on a Cal Hardee single to left field.

“I knew Cal hit the ball good,” Baker said. “I was rounding third and I tripped a little, but I knew coach would send me. When I saw the throw was off-line, I was happy.”

South Caldwell did not have more than one hit, but Moore walked two, hit another by a pitch and saw Dillard reach base on an error in the second inning. However, South Caldwell did not move a runner past second base the entire game.

“Oh gosh, that was a fun game,” Moore said. “I don’t know what to say now.”

Watauga had its share of trouble moving runners, also. Austin Story was robbed of a single in the fourth inning by a diving Jackson at second base. Church lost a single to centerfielder Dom Dibernardi the sixth inning, and Church, after doubling in the second inning, was doubled off base when Trey Lowder lined out to Jackson.

Watauga’s defense was steady by making just one error. Moore fanned six Spartans and was helped by the Watauga defense making one routine defensive play after another.

“Tonight was the game when both teams played unbelievable defense,” Hardee said. “I told our guys that South Caldwell will always rise to the challenge like they did tonight. Messer pitched a great game and Tyler pitched a great game and both teams did a whale of a job on defense.”

Watauga 1, South Caldwell 0
Watauga 000 010 0 — 1 4 1
South Caldwell 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
Moore and Church. Messer and Chavis. W—Moore (2-1), L—Messer (1-1). LOB—Watauga 4, South Caldwell 5. 2B—Watauga, Church. SB—Watauga, Martin; Jackson, Dillard. DP—South Caldwell 1. HBP—Watauga, Moyer, Wallace; South Caldwell, Dillard.