The conference tournament that didn’t seem to end finally ended Tuesday at Watauga’s field.

South Caldwell’s Cody Poarch handcuffed Watauga’s usually potent offense by limiting them to just four hits and the Spartans claimed a 5-0 victory over the Pioneers in the finals of the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament. The game, originally scheduled for last Friday night, was postponed two times because of weather issues and a wet M.S. Deal Stadium field.

The game Tuesday was moved to Watauga’s field because of a middle school tournament that began Tuesday at M.S. Deal. However, it probably would not have mattered to Poarch where the game had been played.

The future UNC Greensboro pitcher did not allow a Watauga runner past second base and fanned seven batters. Watauga coach Pete Hardee felt that no matter who pitched for the Pioneers (17-7), it would not have mattered since they did not score any runs.

“That didn’t have anything to do with (the loss),” Hardee said. “We could have pitched Nolan Ryan tonight and we still would have been shut out. We didn’t score any runs. I was proud of Will Littlejohn. I thought he threw the ball great. He pitched with confidence in a tough situation.”

“I was very disappointed in our hitting,” Hardee added. “We swung at a lot of bad pitches tonight. It’s probably the worst we’ve played all year. We had no discipline at the plate and we made tons of mistakes in the field. All we can do is go back to the practice field and correct those mistakes and get a little confidence back in our defense.”

Poarch combined a fastball that is around 90 miles per hour with off-speed pitches that constantly kept Watauga’s hitters guessing. Hardee lamented the fact that the Watauga should have simply laid off Poarch’s breaking pitches until the Pioneers had two strikes on them.

“We swing at a lot of curveballs,” Hardee said. “My philosophy about a curveball is there have only been eight or nine kids in 19 years that can hit a curveball, so why swing at it until you’ve got two strikes? A lot of times we took a fastball right down the middle and then swung at two curveballs in the dirt. That’s a lack of focus.”

Watauga countered with Littlejohn, who was pressed into action since Pioneers ace Jon Sharpe, who would have likely pitched last Friday or Saturday, was saved for Watauga’s state 4-A playoff home game Friday against Weddington.

Littlejohn pitched out of some tricky situations, but South Caldwell got its first two runners on base in the second and third innings, and its first and third runners on base in the fourth inning.

South Caldwell took advantage of that by getting an RBI single from Tyler Bumgarner in the second inning, a sacrifice fly from David Evans in the third and a two-run single from Dalton Hall in the fourth, giving the Spartans a 4-0 lead.

“They were bunting people over and I don’t worry about that too much because that means they’re paying for one run,” Hardee said. “Our team is not a bunting team, we’re a swinging team and we did not swing the bat tonight.”

Hardee was also disappointed in the usually sure handed Watauga defense, which made three errors, one that cost the Pioneers a run.

“We have to get some confidence back in our defense,” Hardee said. “We’re not doing a good job and I don’t know if it’s a lack of focus. They might have (pressed), but this is a loose bunch. They have a lot of fun at times and you have to know when to do that and when not to.”

Johnson had three hits, including a double, and Jon Grey had two hits, including a double, for South Caldwell.

South Caldwell 5, Watauga 0
South Caldwell 011 210 0 — 5 9 0
Watauga 000 000 0 — 0 4 3
Poarch and Woodie. Littlejohn, Hardee (4), Wallace (7) and Church. W—Poarch (7-2), L—Littlejohn (2-2). LOB—South Caldwell 10, Watauga 5. 2B—South Caldwell, Gray, Johnson, Penny; Watauga Hardee, Wallace. SF—South Caldwell, Evans. SH—South Caldwell, Reid, Evans. SB—Watauga, Wallace. HBP—South Caldwell, Greer, Reid; Watauga, Church. DP—South Caldwell 1.