Trojans heading to Terry Sikes Tournament championship
Published 4:59 pm Saturday, February 27, 2016
After winning two games earlier today, the Charles Henderson Trojans will play for the championship in the Terry Sikes Memorial Tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday.
After defeating the Houston Academy Rebels 10-6 on Saturday morning the Trojans turned around and earned come from behind win over the Robertsdale Golden Bears 4-3.
“I am so proud of this group,” said Trojans head coach William Teal. “They are coming together. We still hurt ourselves, but as soon as we get that fixed we will be a good team.”
Senior Chase Hartley proved invaluable again on Saturday. He went 4-4 in the second game, including a homerun, a pair of singles, and a key double in the seventh that positioned him to score the winning run.
“Have a day bud, have a day.” Teal said. “We have to have that.”
Robertsdale jumped out to the early lead on a RBI triple. The Trojans matched suit in the bottom of the second when Carson Tucker drove in Devan Suddith with an RBI single.
The Bears tacked on runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to go up 3-1 before Hartley drove the ball over the leftfield fence.
The Trojans followed that up with a run in the sixth inning after Charlie Tisdale, Suddith and Tucker all reached base. Base running errors and a fly ball to right field ended the Trojans’ at bat.
Tucker started the game for the Trojans. “This is his first appearance,” Teal said. “I was so impressed with him being out there and being so poised. I told him to stay away from the big inning, and he did. He kept us in the ball game.”
With the Trojans and Bears tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Hartley led off with a double. Walks for Hunter Reeves and Jackson Murphy followed, giving loading the bases. Tisdale popped out but Suddith was hit by a pitch, advancing Hartley for the winning run.
“We were dead,” Teal said. “We did not have the energy that we had during the tournament. That’s going to happen you have to be able to pull out games when thins aren’t going your way. I am really pleased with this group of guys. They came out and went undefeated. I can’t tell you how proud I am.”
Earlier in the day the Trojans received a good pitching performance by Tisdale, who went the distance for the Trojans.
The Trojans jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the game before the Rebels stormed back with three runs to cut their deficit to just two runs. Lewis and Reeves both hit homeruns in the sixth, helping increase the lead to 8-3.
Lewis finished the game 2-3 with a homerun, while Jabronshi Williams finished 2-3 with a double. Hartley also had another game finishing 2-3 with a pair of doubles.
The Trojans will play Northridge at 6 p.m. for the championship.