Back on track
Pioneers snap

four-game NWC skid
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

MORGANTON — After playing in some close games, Watauga needed a game it could win by more than a run.

Freedom turned out to be the perfect opponent. Watauga jumped out to a six-run lead and never looked back in its 12-3 Northwestern 4-A Conference road victory Friday night.

Watauga (11-5, 4-4 NWC) snapped a four-game conference losing skid and won its second overall game. The Pioneers were coming off a 3-2 win at West Wilkes that they needed to score a run in the top of the seventh inning to preserve.

The Pioneers had the Patriots where they wanted after scoring six runs in the top of the seventh inning. Baine Martin delivered a two-run single to give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead over the Patriots, who are 0-16 overall, 0-7 in the NWC. Trey Lower added a two-run single of his own to push that lead to 6-0.

Tyler Moore scored on a double steal with Chris Shelton and Shelton scored on a wild pitch in the third to push Watauga’s lead to 8-1.

“When you’re in a situation like you’re in tonight, you want to bust it open as early as possible and get as many players in that you possibly can,” Pioneers coach Pete Hardee said. “We had to battle a little bit and we got some big hits and did what we had to to come away with a win.”

Freedom’s Reggie Washington belted a solo home run to center field that Martin nearly caught. In fact, Martin fell over the center field fence trying to reel in Washington’s blast.

However, Martin got his revenge by scoring a run in the sixth and adding an RBI single in the seventh. Martin finished with three hits and a walk, good for three RBI and two runs scored in five trips to the plate.

Trey Dunnigan added a solo home run in the fourth inning, and Lowder drove in two more runs, giving him four RBI in the game, in the sixth inning.

“We just went out there and scrapped hard tonight,” Lowder said. “We just hustled out every play and just worked hard and put the ball into play.”

Watauga’s entire offense managed nine hits and took advantage of seven walks issued by three Freedom pitchers. Freedom’s defense didn’t do pitchers Andrew Martin, Devin Villaneuva and Tyler Milligan any favors by committing five errors.

Watauga’s defense was spotless by committing no errors. Jon Sharpe went six innings on the mound, scattering eight hits and striking out 10. Sharpe three 71 strikes out of 100 pitches.

“We’re trying to stretch him out a little bit,” Hardee said. “He really hasn’t thrown a lot of pitches in a game all year. It seems like he’s three innings here and four innings there. We wanted to stretch him out because I think that helps a pitcher in his next start and and starts getting him into a routine. With the rainouts and such it’s been hard to keep pitchers on a regular routine and we wanted to stretch him out as long as we could.”

Mitch Minford, making his second varsity appearance, pitched a scoreless seventh inning, striking out one in setting the Patriots down in order.

Watauga got some bad news when catcher Jake Wallace had to leave the game because of a possible hyperextention of one of his knees. Lowder, who was named the emergency catcher when starter Adam Church injured his thumb, was pressed into active duty.

“Coach put me back there in practice because Church got hurt,” Lowder said. “(Church) has been working with me, getting me ready to go in case something like this would happen.”