Machine Pitch comes home District 9 Champs
Published 3:00 am Friday, June 26, 2015
When Troy and Enterprise get together to play baseball fans can be assured of one thing — no matter the score, the game is going to be exciting.
Troy and Enterprise battled it out Wednesday and Thursday night to determine the District 9 Champion. After Troy won a must-win game on Wednesday beating Eufaula 21-5, they turned around and beat Enterprise 5-4 Thursday in the second walk-off win between the two teams.
In the game on Wednesday night, Troy scored early and often on the their way to a 21-5 blow out win putting them in the championship game.
Troy scored their first five runs of the game before Enterprise could even step in the batters box, and Troy never looked back from there.
“I think that was the only game in the tournament where we started fast in the first inning,” said Troy head coach Adam Brookins. “Any time you can score five runs in your first at bat, it really sets the tone for the rest of the game.”
Dawson Bradford, Wes Braisted, Pruitt Vaughn, Rhodes Baker and Kade Brookins all finished the game with three hits for Troy Wednesday night.
The defense continued the trend of being a sound fundamental group Wednesday night, Brookins said.
“We played fairly decent defensively,” Brookins said. “We didn’t make a lot of errors, and that always helps you stay in the ball game. If you don’t give the other team any extra outs then usually the outcome is pretty good.”
In the championship game Thursday night, Troy and Enterprise brought back the fireworks the teams previously had in the tournament.
In a game Saturday between the two teams, Troy and Enterprise battled back-and-forth all afternoon before Troy scored in the bottom of the sixth to win the game.
History repeated itself on Thursday evening, as Troy once again received a walk-off base hit to defeat Enterprise 5-4.
In the top half of the first inning, Enterprise jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Troy came back right way in their first at bat and plated three runs to take the lead going into the second inning.
Troy scored one more run in the fifth inning, before Enterprise was able to tie the game at four. That set the stage for one more memorable finish for the Troy Maching Pitch Team.
Carter Nelson and Kaneil Lewis both got hits to start the inning. Jackson Booth came up and hit a grounder to third base, but Enterprise’s third basemen stepped on the bag forcing out Nelson. Braisted came up and singled reloading the bases for Troy.
With the bases loaded, Enterprise brought the infield in to cut down the base runner on third trying to score. Kade Brookins came up and slapped a base hit passed the third baseman bringing in the game-winning run for Troy.
“I told the Enterprise coach after the game that I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” Brookins said. “All the games we have played against them have been competitive.”
All tournament long Troy has battled to get better and advance to the next round.
“These boys love to play baseball and they love to compete,” Brookins said. “Tonight was by far the best defensive game they have played. Jordan McBryde played a tremendous game at shortstop. He gobbled everything up that came his way tonight.”
With the championship Troy advances to the State Tournament in Tuscaloosa starting on July 10. Moving forward, Brookins said the team would have to focus on playing clean, solid baseball.
“We know that we have to play better baseball as a whole,” Brookins said. “We have to hit and field good to be competitive up there.”