CULLMAN COUNTY BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: Smith’s sac fly lifts West Point to 6-5 win over Fairview, second straight title

Published 11:19 pm Thursday, March 7, 2019

HOLLY POND — Branson Smith’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Cooper Couch to send the West Point Warriors to a 6-5 win over the Fairview Aggies in the championship game of the Cullman County Baseball Tournament on Thursday.

It capped a three-run rally after the Warriors gave up the lead in the top half of the inning on Riley Carroll’s three-run homer. It also gave them their second straight county tournament title and fifth overall since 2011.

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the final frame, Levi Farley led off by getting hit by a pitch. Hunter Persall quickly sent him home with a shot to right-center for an RBI double. Three batters later and with the bases loaded, Aubry Cleghorn sent Persall home with a line-drive single. After Rylan Jones singled to load the bases again, Smith stepped to the plate. On a two-strike count, he lifted a fly ball to centerfield. Couch — pinch running for Will Cochran — tagged up at third and barely beat the throw home to set off a big celebration at Chuck Yeager Field in Holly Pond.

“I tell them, ‘Get to the next guy,'” West Point coach Drew Bryson said. “Whatever it takes, give the next guy an opportunity. Luckily for us, our guys battled through it and showed some mental toughness. We overcame a lackluster performance early and found a way at the end.”

West Point’s Blake Diestelow and Fairview’s Dayne Black locked in to what was a pitchers’ duel through the first six innings. While their defenses struggled at times — the teams combined for seven errors — West Point led just 3-2 heading into the seventh.

That’s when Diestelow likely wishes he had one pitch back. He served up a breaking ball to Carroll, who sent a moon shot to left-center field to score Malcolm Parker and Preston Ryan.

“Blake Diestelow pitched his tail off tonight,” Bryson said. “We put him in a bind from a pitch count perspective early, having to overcome some early mistakes physically and mentally. He made one bad pitch, and honestly, it’s probably on me. I should have stuck to the fastball on his hands, but we went to the breaking ball thinking we might get a swing and a miss.”

Black was in line to get the win for Fairview, allowing three unearned runs on three hits and striking out 12. He gave way to Parker, who suffered the loss, in the bottom of the seventh.

Persall got the win in relief, facing two batters in the seventh and retiring both.

The game was tied at 1-1 at the end of the first, as Persall scored on an error for the Warriors, and Fairview’s Parker scored following Dalton Payne’s RBI single. West Point put two more runs on the board in the second, with Jones coming home on a wild pitch and Smith crossing the plate on an error. Fairview pulled within 3-2 on Levi Garner’s RBI single to score Parker Martin in the fourth.

The starting pitchers settled in from there, setting up the fireworks in the seventh.

Cleghorn (RBI), Smith (RBI) and Jones had two hits apiece for West Point.

Persall (RBI) and Cochran had one.

Diestelow scattered seven hits and seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

Parker led Fairview with two hits.

Carroll (three RBIs), Payne (RBI), Garner (RBI), Black and Jarrett Miller had one hit apiece.

% Fairview 5, Hanceville 4: The Aggies advanced to the championship with a close win against the Bulldogs.

Oakley Mullican (two RBIs), Malcolm Parker, Dayne Black, Dalton Payne and Parker Martin had one hit apiece.

Jarrett Miller crafted 12 strikeouts in his complete game effort.

Ephram Milne (two hits and one RBI) led Hanceville offensively.

He also struck out nine batters in 4 2/3 innings.

Ashton James (RBI), Tate Brown and Adam Cooper provided one hit apiece.

% West Point 8, Vinemont 3: The Warriors picked up a victory over the Eagles to advance to the title contest.

Aubry Cleghorn (three RBIs), Rylan Jones (two RBIs), Will Cochran (RBI) and Branson Smith each had two hits.

Hunter Persall and Whitt Laney tallied one hit apiece.

Cleghorn struck out eight batters in 5 2/3 innings of work.

Zander Noblett led Vinemont with three hits and one RBI.

Clay Rogers (RBI), Issac Smith (RBI) and Travis Hopper collected one hit apiece.

% The Times’ Jake Winfrey contributed to this report