Jackets appears to be turning it around
♦ Calhoun’s last two games have been tough one-run losses
It seems with each passing game, the Calhoun High School baseball team is getting close to the results its looking for — wins.
Very close.
The Yellow Jackets wrapped up the first week, or one-fifth of Region 7-5A games, Thursday and Friday with their final two games against Cartersville.
The teams were at Chip Henderson Field Thursday for Game Two and went back to Cartersville Friday evening for the three-game series finale that began on Tuesday when Calhoun lost a 2-1 walk-off decision to the Purple Hurricanes on the winners’ diamond.
That came after that they finished the first month of pre-Region games with a 5-4 loss to Cherokee High School, a team that now has 13 victories.
And that is what we’re talking about. They’re now playing all these good teams off their feet, but can’t quite get over the hump. Both defeats were games that could have gone either way at the end, but when it was all said and done, the Baseball Gods were still not cutting the Yellow Jackets a break.
Head coach Matt Montgomery, in first year running the program, was the guest speaker last week at the Calhoun Rotary Club and he talked about, while they have struggled at time, Murphy’s Law has been in full force with just about everything that could go wrong at any time going wrong. He also said they have been working hard to make sure one miscue doesn’t compound into some kind of a big inning for the opposition and suddenly, Calhoun is swimming upstream.
But he is still upbeat about the team and their future because he believes he has talented players that are working hard and just need to keep grinding.
Those two recent losses dropped them to 3-9 heading into the end of the Cartersville series, were their third and fourth one-run loss this year, making them 0-4 in one-run games.
Now they’re hoping to get over that hump this week when they remain in
the 7-5A with three games against Hiram, which had yet to win a game this year as of Thursday.
And after going on the road twice to play Cartersville, the schedule reserves itself this coming week against the Hornets with a 5:55 p.m. home game Tuesday before they go to Hiram Thursday. The teams will then play Game Three Friday back at Chip Henderson Field.
In the loss to Cherokee, the Indians got on the board right away with two runs in the top of the first to lead 2-0 before Calhoun even batted.
But the Yellow Jackets responded with two runs of
their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at two after one.
The visitors would retake the lead in the top of third, scoring two more times to go in front 4-2 at the close of two-and-a-half innings of play.
In the top of the fifth frame, they would add their final run and it would turn out to be the game-winner with a solo score, making their lead 5-2.
Calhoun came back with two runs of its own to make it 5-4, but the Jackets would not score again. They got baserunners on in the sixth and seventh, but couldn’t get back to even.
Against Cartersville Tuesday in Game One this week, Calhoun again scored in its first at-bat, plating a run in the top of the first for a 1-0
lead. Unfortunately, though, they would not score again.
Meanwhile, the pitching and defense throttled the Hurricanes for five innings before the home break broke through in the sixth.
Cartersville, which went to the top of the Region 7-5A teams along with two other teams with the win, scored their first run to tie the game in the sixth to set up another tight game in late innings for the Jackets.
They were unable to get that go-ahead run in their atbat in the top of the seventh, but Cartersville did score in its half to get the comefrom-behind win and make Calhoun 0-1 in Region play.
With Region games in full swing and everyone starting three-game series this oast week, all six schools were on
the field Tuesday and besides Cartersville going to 1-0, Hiram and Cass also went to 1-0 in league play by winning their 7-5A openers.
And both did so in impressive fashion with Cass defeating Hiram, 15-0, and Woodland belting Dalton, 16-1, in a pair of mercy rule wins that only went five innings. All four of those teams wrapped up their series with each other with games Thursday and Friday. (Details of those games were not available at press time).
With the win over Calhoun Tuesday night, Cartersville has the best overall record in the Region, going to 9-2 on the year.
Cass’s win over Hiram lifted the Colonels to 6-5 this winter and they are the only other team in the Region above .500.