Pioneers finish week

with pair of victories
By Steve Behr

When it came to scoring runs, Watauga was resourceful in its 9-4 victory over A.C. Reynolds Friday night at Watauga’s field.

The Pioneers scored three runs on different sacrifice flies, added a run on a balk call, and even scored some runs the old fashioned way — by hitting the ball with runners on base. It all added up to the Pioneers winning their third Northwestern 4-A Conference game in four tries, and their second game this week. They closed out a four-game week Saturday at home against West Wilkes, a team they beat 9-8.

“I told the team after the game that every conference win is going to be hard to come by,” Pioneers coach Pete Hardee said. “We’ve got to be ready to play and play hard and it’s going to be hard work just to get these wins done.”

Watauga’s lone loss this past week was at McDowell, which beat East Burke Friday and holds a half-game lead over the Pioneers (5-2, 3-1). Watauga is in second place in the Northwestern 4-A Conference after knocking off A.C. Reynolds (5-2, 2-2). Watauga pitcher-shortstop Cal Hardee, who pitched a complete game against the Rockets Friday night, felt the Pioneers’ loss to McDowell may have been a blessing in disguise.

“I think the loss to McDowell may have helped us out a bit and calmed us down,” Hardee said. “We came out pretty hot tonight, but every game is getting tougher and tougher. We have to keep pulling through and keep getting big wins.”

Watauga had enough offense to go through three Reynolds pitchers, even though the Pioneers left 10 runners on base. The Pioneers took a 4-0 first-inning lead when the first six batters reached base.

Baine Martin set the tone for the inning by ripping a double that landed at the edge of the left-center warning track. Adam Church and Trey Lowder added RBI singles and Matt Phillips added a sacrifice fly to put Watauga in front 3-0.

“It was huge,” Pete Hardee said. “We just jumped right out and swung the bats well. That’s what we need to do and we drove runs in tonight. We had a lot of great at-bats where guys were just battling and battling. We had a lot of tough outs tonight.”

It looked like Watauga would add more to the lead when Phil Gordon singled and Lowder scored. However, Gordon’s hit was disallowed because of a balk that was called on Reynolds pitcher Ryan Jones.

Lowder was on third base, so he was awarded home, but Gordon had to return to the plate, where he popped up to end the inning. Gordon eventually walked in the fifth inning, stole second, and after reaching third, he scored on Cal Hardee’s second sacrifice fly, the Pioneers’ third of the game. One inning earlier, Hardee drove in Chris Shelton with a sacrifice fly.

Shelton, who hits ninth in the order, had reached base with a leadoff double. He also singled in the second inning and walked twice in the game.

Martin also reached base four times and scored after three of them. Hardee, who had an RBI single in the second inning, had three RBIs for the game, and both Church and Lowder had two of Watauga’s 10 hits.
Cal Hardee made sure A.C. Reynolds would not get too close. He scattered 10 hits, struck out six and walked four.

A.C. Reynolds’ leadoff hitter Phillip Treadway drove in a run in the second inning and another in the fourth.

Derek Anderson added an RBI single in the second, and Ryan Mayberry had two hits, including a double in the fourth.

Both Hardees said a mid-game adjustment of dropping his pitching arm angle to three-quarters instead of directly overhand helped Cal Hardee find his control after a difficult second inning.

Watauga 9, A.C. Reynolds 4
A.C. Reynolds 020 200 0 — 4 10 3
Watauga 410 211 X — 9 8 0
Jones, Sluder (4), Pressley (6) and Anderson. Hardee and Church. W—Hardee (3-0), L—Jones (0-2). LOB—Watauga 10, A.C. Reynolds 10. 2B—A.C. Reynolds, Mayberry; Watauga, B. Martin, Lowder, Shelton. SF—Watauga, Hardee 2, Phillips. SB—Watauga, B. Martin, Gordon. HBP—A.C. Reynolds, Treadway (by Hardee). DP—A.C. Reynolds 1.