Panthers move into tie for second in Region 6-AAAA
The Ridgeland Panthers pulled into a tie with the Pickens Dragons for second place in the Region 6-AAAA standings by taking two of three from Walker County rival LaFayette last week. Ridgeland got help from Heritage, who roughed up the Dragons in a three-game sweep last week.
Ridgeland (8-6 overall, 7-5 region) will open a crucial three-game series with Pickens on Tuesday. They will host the Dragons again on Friday after traveling to Jasper on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the fifth-place Ramblers (5-16, 4-8) will face fourth-place Northwest Whitfield (6-6) in an equally-important threegame series this week as they look to keep their playoff hopes alive. Tuesday and Friday’s games will be played in Tunnel Hill and LaFayette will host the Bruins on Thursday.
Ridgeland 6, LaFayette 1
The Panthers got a complete-game from pitcher Ellis Johnson and a three-run homer by Tanner Hill to win in south Walker County last Tuesday.
It was a duel between Johnson and LaFayette starter A.J. Buck most of the night. The game would remain scoreless into the sixth when the Panthers broke through with a pair of runs. Ridgeland would add another run in the top of the seventh before Hill provided the breathing room with a two-out shot to right field.
LaFayette’s lone run came in the bottom of the seventh. Davis Richardson doubled and moved to third base on a pinch-hit single by Dylan Deering before scoring on a Ridgeland throwing error.
Johnson allowed five hits and struck out seven as Ridgeland won their fourth game in a row and their sixth in their last seven tries.
Riley Harrison had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Gabe Ashley was 3-for-4. Tyler Crawford was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while D.J. Ball and Shawn Wilson had one hit each. Ridgeland also scored a run on a passed ball.
Colton Lane was 2-for-3 with a double for the Ramblers, while Buck also had a hit. The senior struck out four and gave up just one earned run in the loss.
Ridgeland 10, LaFayette 0
In the first game of a doubleheader at Jay Smith Field in Rossville on Thursday, the Blackand-White controlled the action of the second game of the series from the opening pitch.
A four-run first inning set the tone as the Panthers collected five straight base hits to start the game. The last was a three-run double by Hill, who later had a solo homer - his second in two nights - to lead off the fifth.
Wilson plated Ball with a run-scoring triple as part of a tworun fourth and Hill’s homer would jump-start another four-spot in the fifth as the home team invoked the run rule.
Ball was 3-for-4. Harrison and Jacob Stephens each had two hits, while Harrison also picked up an RBI. Stephens got the win on the mound, allowing just one hit. He walked one batter, hit three and struck out one.
John James took the loss for LaFayette, while Richardson supplied the lone hit for the Ramblers with a fourthinning single to break up Stephens’ no-hit bid.
The Ramblers took advantage of plenty of free bases in the top of the second inning of Game 3 as they pushed across six runs and fended off the Panthers late to take the win.
Seven batters reached base for LaFayette in the second inning via errors, hit batsmen or walks. The two hits in the frame came on an RBIsingle by Blake Guffey and a big double by Richardson.
Ridgeland would get two back in the bottom half of the inning, but a Blake Mann single scored Jack Martin in the top of the third to push the Ramblers’ lead to 7-2.
The Panthers got two more in the third and one in the fourth to cut the gap down to two. They put the leadoff hitter on base in the bottom of the seventh, but hit into a 1-4-3 double play.
Ball launched a solo homer one batter later and Wilson walked to put the tying run at first, but LaFayette would induce an infield pop-up to close it out.