Junior Wolves fall short in comeback bid
SHERIDAN — Lake Hamilton’s junior American Legion team struggled to overcome an early lead by North Central Arkansas, and despite a late comeback bid, the Wolves ended their state-title run with an 8-5 loss Tuesday night at Sheridan Parks and Recreation Center.
“I went with Ben Varner today,” coach Andrew Williams said. “I thought that he did pretty good on the mound. He came out, and he was throwing well. But they got his number early and started hitting the ball in places where we weren’t, and that’s really kind of where the tide turned for their team.”
Hadyn Estrada got the Wolves on the scoreboard first as he scored on a fielder’s choice in the first inning.
NCA responded quickly into the bottom half of the inning as Gunner Gleghorn singled to left field before stealing second base and eventually scoring on an error. Later in the inning, Hank Guiltner hit an RBI single that sent pinch runner Dalton Steward home as NCA pushed ahead for good.
North Central added two more runs in the second inning behind Denton Reiley who scored on a single, and Landon Jines who came around on a fielder’s choice hit as NCA stretched its lead out to 4-1 before adding three more in the third to take a 7-1 lead.
Lake Hamilton rallied in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs of its own. Wyatt Wolf led off with a walk before scoring on Eden Fite’s infield single to cut the deficit down to 7-2.
“They went up to 4-0, so then we made a pitching change and put in Easton Hurley,” explained Williams. “I was really pleased with the way he came in and battled. He came in and threw the ball hard, mixed up a few things, threw strikes and got us outs, and got the momentum kind of back our way in the dugout. After that, we came out, and I kind of gave them a pep talk to make sure they’re keeping their heads up and we’re staying positive in trying to keep a right mindset.
“When we came out, we pitched together a few runs right there off of (them making) a couple errors in our favor, and we took advantage of it … and started battling back.”
Minutes later, Davis hit a deep shot into the right center gap for a two-RBI triple that sent Fite and Estrada home as the Wolves pulled within 7-4.
On the next at-bat, Hurley reached on an infield single that plated Davis, but NCA added one more run in the bottom of the sixth to secure the win.
“Daelyn Davis, I felt like did a great job behind the plate,” Williams noted. “He’s really done well for us as a freshman catcher, and I was really happy for him to get a good rope in the right center gap right there towards the end of the game to leg out a triple — a lot of really good hustle by him.”
Ben Varner collected the loss for Lake Hamilton, giving up six runs off six hits and two walks with one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings on the mound. Hurley threw 3 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs off five hits and two walks while fanning five.
Fite led Lake Hamilton offensively with two hits while Estrada, Davis, Hurley, Kaden Burroughs and Aiden Bellway garnered one each. Davis finished with three RBI while Fite and Hurley had one each. Estrada scored two runs while Fite, Davis and Wolf each scored one with Wolf and Estrada stealing a base each.
Landon McBride earned the win for NCA, giving up a single run off four hits and three walks while striking out one in three innings on the hill. Thomas Lamb threw two innings, allowing four runs off four hits three walks while striking out two, and Leisenring finished out the game on the mound, walking one while fanning three.
“We had a ton of time off, (and) we were away from baseball; it’s good to have contact with our guys,” said Williams. “After the governor lifted everything where we could practice, we got those guys in the cages. We had them out there on our practice field, and we were hooking it up practicing, putting in as much work as we possibly could. … Normally those guys would have the chance to work out all their mistakes, learn and grow during the baseball season to where when we get to summer baseball, they’re already kind of on the same page as what we want.
“Having to just kind of come up with a lot on the fly and having to make quick adjustments was really difficult. We started off pretty slow, but I felt like as the summer went on, they tried to catch on to what we’re trying to do as a program. … I’ve said this whole summer that we’re looking for a better mindset, a better attitude to be more competitive,
and I think in the middle of that game when we tried to tack on more runs, I think they realized that, ‘We’re capable of a lot more than what we’re allowing ourselves to do.’ I really felt good about the way they competed. … I feel like that even though we took the loss, that was probably the best that we have competed, especially being down. But like I said, we’re hunting that mindset constantly, and we’re gonna go into the offseason this fall and continue to grow and take that mindset to be an extreme competitor.”