By Chris Yow
BRENTWOOD — Trailing by seven runs and seemingly with nothing to lose, Spring Hill coach Paul Lamm said his team may have loosened up a bit at the plate.
That relaxed approach nearly led to an improbable comeback Tuesday.
As 10 went to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Raiders had the bases loaded before a fly ball to right field was corralled and Dickson County escaped with a 12-10 win.
Jackson Marbet led off the inning being hit by a pitch and Quent Mizer doubled. Chance Bland’s double on the next at-bat scored both runners before Ethan Swoish singled home a run. Cole Taylor and Brantly Whitwell singled in runs and Nathaniel Huntzinger reached on an error. Marbet then drew a walk from an 0-2 count to load the bases before Mizer lined out to right field.
“We had the right people up at the right time, and we just couldn’t get the final ball to get down. If that would’ve gotten down we tie the game and maybe take the lead because we were running,” Lamm said. “The guys gave us a great ballgame and gave our fans something to cheer for at the end.”
Coming off a dramatic 10-inning win the night before, the Cougars advanced to the losers bracket finals with the win, extending their season by at least one more day.
Spring Hill ended its season after eliminating the tournament’s top two seeds, regular-season champion Ravenwood and runner-up Brentwood, in back-to-back days.
Lamm had nothing but praise for his team’s effort.
“Our kids never gave up, and we were one bounce away from taking this one,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way these guys fought and gave effort to the very end.”
Runs came in bunches for Spring Hill, as they found little success early against Dickson County’s Ben Fisher. He was solid through the first four innings, sans a Marbet solo home run, but after his team gave him a comfortable 9-1 advantage in the fifth, the Raiders took advantage.
A pair of singles from Taylor and Whitwell paid off when Huntzinger doubled home a run and Dawson Hargrove plated a pair as well. Marbet followed up his fourth inning homer with an RBI double, cutting the lead to 9-5 by the end of the inning.
Dickson County added a solo homer in the sixth and two more runs in the seventh for the 12-5 lead.
“We tried to do too much early on, I think. When you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to perform, it can make things more difficult,” Lamm said.
Both teams had 13 hits and three errors each. The only number that wasn’t equal was the run total. Lamm, however, said the season and tournament wasn’t for naught and praised his outgoing seniors for their leadership throughout a up-and-down season.
“We started out 1-8 and we could’ve given up. Tonight we got down 9-1 and it could have been over at any point after that, but our seniors stepped up,” Lamm said. “I can’t say enough good things about where this program is after tonight. We proved in this tournament that Raider baseball is still strong.”
The Raiders finished the season 14-14 overall.
Photos by Chris Yow / SM-Tn Sports