Yellow Jackets eliminated
The Calhoun High School baseball team lost a pair of games to Decatur Wednesday night in the first-round of the GHSA 5A state playoffs.
Coming in with the hope of a new day and a new season, even if it is only a month long because it’s the playoffs, the Yellow Jackets lost a 4-3 decision to the Bulldogs in the first outing and then fell 7-0 in the nightcap in their best-of-three series in Decatur.
The gold-and-black came to play, but unfortunately couldn’t come up with the big hit or make the big pitch when they needed to too keep their season going.
The first game was a close one all the way, with Calhoun having a chance to win until the final out was recorded.
In the second game, the Yellow Jackets’ bats went quiet as the hosts broke the game open late to finish the night with the two wins they needed to advance to the second round.
The twinbill also marked the end of high school careers for five Calhoun seniors, who were hoping to make one last big splash on the diamond before graduation in a few weeks.
Calhoun came into the series as the third seed out of Region 7-5A and the other three playoff teams in the league all won to advance or still had a chance to advance by forcing a third and decisive game Thursday.
Cartersville, which is currently the number two-ranked 5A team in the state and the number one seed from 7-5A, won its series over Chamblee, the fourth-place team from 5-5A.
The teams had a close first game with the Purple Hurricanes getting a 4-3 win, but they got the sticks going in the second game, rolling to a 14-6 win to advance to this week’s Round of Sweet 16 against Coffee High School.
Coffee defeated Wayne County in two games to take that three-game set, nipping them 8-7 in Game One but then coming alive offensively in the nightcap for a 15-3 mercy rule win.
Blessed Trinity also needed just two games to knock off Southwest Dekalb. And in what seems to be a pattern around the state, the first game was bit of a nailbiter with the Titans winning, 4-2. But they picked things up at the plate in the second game to win 21-0 in just four innings.
BT will now go to Ware County next week for their second-round series.
Woodland is the Region’s fourth seed and current home of Calhoun’s new head coach Matt Montgomery and they forced a third game with St. Pius X by splitting their first games Wednesday night near Atlanta.
SPX took the first game, 2-0, but the Warriors won Game Two 4-3, to force the winner-take-all scenario Thursday night. (Details of that game were not available at press time).
The Yellow Jackets end the season with a 17-14 record.