Baseball
6A West- Round IV
Alexander Central 2 St Stephens 1…13 innings
Taylorsville: Athletics sometimes can be cruel sometimes. For St Stephens that might seem true, for Alexander Central, just about all that can be said is…WOW !
The two Northwestern Conference rivals fought an epic battle dominated by pitching Friday night at Bob Gryder Stadium. The teams were scoreless for 12 innings.
The visiting Indians plated a run in the 12 inning.
In the bottom of the 13th, AC had two-outs with bases-empty and two strikes on senior Kade Church. That’s when the earth seemed to tilt in favor of the Cougars. Church singled followed by a single off the bat of Sawyer Chapman Mays. Koa Mikeal delivered a base-hit to tie the game.
Sophomore Gunnar Johnson ended the marathon on the first pitch with a line-drive hit to left and the game was over, but for sure never to be forgotten.
It was Johnson’s second game-winning hit this week. He knocked-in the winning run on Tuesday against Watauga. For good measure he picked-up the win on the mound pitching 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and an unearned run.
The victory moves Coach Pete Hardee’s Blue and Gold to the west regional final against South Caldwell. The Spartans beat AC Reynolds 6-5. The best of three series will begin on Tuesday, May 19th in Taylorsville. Game II will be at South and game III if needed, will be at ACHS.
St Stephens….1 run…7 hits…0 errors
Alex Central…2 runs..8 hits,,,1 error