GHSA baseball roundup,
A season battling some of the best baseball teams in Georgia has paid off for Dalton in the Class AAAAAA playoffs.
The Catamounts (24-8), the No. 3 seed from a Region 6 that at one time boasted two nationally ranked teams, won their third and fourth consecutive playoff games Wednesday to advance to the state quarterfinals.
Dalton used Cole Shelton’s one-hit, 11-strikeout performance in a 1-0 game one win at Glynn Academy that wasn’t decided until Harrison Norman hit a home run in the top of the seventh inning. The Cats then rallied from a 3-0 deficit in game two with five runs in the fifth inning, two on Shelton’s bases-loaded single preceding J.P. Tighe’s threerun homer.
“Cole Shelton was outstanding for nine innings in game one,” Dalton coach Rhett Parrott said. “It was a great effort on the mound, we played solid defense behind him and got the big hit from Harry. It was a tidy hour, 20-minute game.
“After they got up on us in game two, we were able to string some hits together and J.P. was able to come through with the big homer. We were tested in region play all season, and it pays off in these type games.”
Dalton will travel to Region 7 champion Pope for another best-of-three series that starts next Wednesday.
› In Class AAA, Region 6 No. 4 seed Calhoun continued its surprising run by sweeping host Brantley County, 17-4 and 9-6.
“I can’t remember the last time we were a four seed, but this team is using that as a rallying cry and hopefully we can keep it up,” Calhoun coach Chip Henderson said. “The first game was tied at four entering the fourth inning, but we were able to get into their bullpen and took off.”
Brett Potts, the beneficiary of the run explosion, pitched a complete game. Ryan Randall had two hits and three RBIs, with Jackson Braden driving in five runs.
Randall and Jackson had two hits and two RBIs each in game two, with Tanner Gallman adding two hits and Bryson Davis two hits and two RBIs. Matthew Williams was the winning pitcher in relief of starter Davis Allen, who allowed just three hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched.
The Yellow Jackets (21-12) will travel to familiar playoff foe Lovett in next week’s quarterfinals.
Also in AAA, Coahulla Creek split at Region 4 champion Pike County, winning the first game 3-2 in nine innings before losing 4-0.
The Colts (23-9) rode the five-hit pitching of Trent Collins, who went the distance, and a pair of sacrifice flies from Hayden Lock to win the opener. Collins, an 11-game winner, pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth before Lock’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth plated the go-ahead run.
Pike County’s Andrew Padavano shut the Colts down in the second game, allowing three hits and striking out 11.
The third game is set for 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.