Moyer delivers

game-winning hit
From staff reports

KINSTON — Watauga got a game-winning single from Ethan Moyer to beat D.H. Conley 4-3 in the Pioneers’ first game of the Geoge Whitfield Invitational Tournament Saturday night. The game was the final one of the evening.

Cal Hardee started the seventh with a base hit and was moved to second base by Chris Shelton. Moyer was able to drive in Hardee with the game-winner.

The victory helped erase the memory of a tough 4-3 loss to A.C. Reynolds the previous Tuesday. In that game, the Pioneers blew a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning and lost the game in the seventh.

It almost happened again. Watauga had a 3-0 lead, saw it disappear, but this time, the Pioneers came back and won the game in the seventh.

“I was proud of the way the guys bounced back,” Watauga coach Pete Hardee said. “It was similar to our loss at A.C. Reynolds. We lost the lead, but we showed a lot of moxie in the last inning getting that run.”

Watauga took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Trey Dunnigan. The Pioneers added two runs in the fourth inning on a Austin Story RBI single and when Trey Lowder scored on an error.

Watauga finished with four hits.

Tyler Moore pitched the first 5 1/3 innings for Watauga. He struck out 10 batters before Jon Sharpe took over and finished the game.

Watauga plays South Central Monday and Kinston on Tuesday. Pete Hardee compared South Central, a 3-A program out of Winterville, to Alexander Central.

“They’re scrappy and they’ve got a good left-handed pitcher that we might see today,” Hardee said. “It will be a battle. They like to bunt and steal and hit-and-run. They’re supposedly not a great hitting team, but they’re good at playing small ball.”