TALLASSEE, AL – Outstanding efforts by Charles Henderson High pitchers Chase Hartley, Grant Hughes and Charlie Tisdale were the difference in tight 5-4 and 4-3 wins over Tallassee High Friday night in the first round of the Class 5A AHSAA state playoffs.
The Trojans will be on the road next weekend for a rematch with Area 3 rival Rehobeth, who beat Beauregard in two of three games.
Big hits were also timely for CHHS, as Jackson Murphy blasted a two-RBI double in Game 2 to break a 2-2 tie game and give the Trojans the win.
“Our guys battled,” said CHHS head coach William Teal. “I can’t say how proud I am of our guys. That pitcher we just faced in the second game (left-hander Dylan Hathcock) is a very, very, very, very good pitcher. He is a Division I prospect, he has a bright future ahead of him, but our guys did what they had to do to pull it out. I am proud of them.
“Winning Game 1 was big as the visitor and be the home team the second game, and it put the pressure on the other team. We traveled and they played before their home crowd, but our guys came and battled. They knew what we had to do to win these games.”
In the first game the Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Jabronski Williams was hit by a pitch, Nick Lewis walked, Hartley singled to score Williams and Lewis scored on a ground out by Murphy.
Tallassee cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning when Casey Baynes walked and later scored from third on a balk.
The Trojans tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth inning as Murphy singled, Devan Suddith drew a walk, Eric Lee was hit by a pitch, and Carson Tucker doubled to left field to score Murphy and Suddith for the 4-1 advantage.
The Tigers responded with two more runs in the bottom half of the same inning as Cody Hamilton walked, Jacob Wisener singled and both later scored on a single by Will Peters and a sacrifice fly by Baynes to make the score 4-3 after four innings.
Bryson Gandy singled in the top of the fifth inning, stole second and scored to give CHHS a 5-3 lead on a balk by the Tallassee pitcher.
Hartley, the starting pitcher for CHHS, gave great effort and was pulled in the bottom of the seventh with two Tallassee baserunners at first and second and no outs as Baynes reached on an infield CHHS error, Hathcock singled, and Hughes came in and stuck out the next batter on three pitches. Reid Whitaker walked to load the bases, and Hughes battled the next battler before he walked to push a run across to cut the lead to 5-4 with one out.
Hughes then struck out Weisner and forced a deep fly to right field to end the first game.
“We did not play our best game, and we still found a way to win,” said Teal. “I was telling our pitchers we have got to fill it up. Of their four runs, three of them came from two walks and an error. But we were able to overcome that, which is really good for our team. That shows our resiliency, and hats off to Hartley and Grant. Grant came in a tough, tough situation. We found a way to win and you have to do that sometimes.
CHHS managed five runs on four hits in the first game as Gandy, Hartley, Murphy and Tucker had one hit each. Hartley struck out seven in his pitching effort, while Hughes struck out two.
In the second game Tisdale took the mound and was a bulldog in the seven-inning, complete game victory.
The Trojans took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Williams singled, Lewis was hit by a pitch and Hartley doubled to score Williams. Murphy followed with a ground out to short, which allowed Lewis to score from third.
Tallassee followed with two runs in the top of the second inning as Whitaker singled, Cody Hamilton reached on an infield error, pinch runner Chase Goodman scored on a ground out and Hamilton scored on a single by Jake Burton.
The Tigers threatened in the top of the fourth inning with runners on first and third and two outs but Devan Suddith made a full-out running, sliding catch in the right field corner to send the inning.
CHHS broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning with two runs when Williams singled, Hartley was later intentionally walked with two outs, and Murphy doubled over the right fielder’s head to score Williams and Hartley for the 4-2 lead.
Tallassee responded with one more run in the top of the sixth inning to cut it to 4-3 on a single by Cody Hamilton, who later scored on an infield error.
That would be the last run Tisdale would allow, as he dug deep for to get the Tallassee batters out each inning including the seventh inning when the Tigers had the potential tying run on third, but a great defensive play by third baseman Carson Tucker and a fly out to right field sealed the win.
CHHS was led at the plate in the second game by Williams with two hits, while Gandy, Hartley and Murphy had one hit apiece.
Tisdale was stellar on the hill, allowing one earned run over seven innings, while walking only one.
Tallassee starter Dylan Hathcock, who is a Division I prospect, struck out 11 CHHS batters and allowed only five hits.