Lyles’ 3-run homer walks off Woodland
Sonoraville senior slugger Zach Lyles hit a threerun walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday night, lifting the Phoenix to a thrilling 6-3 non-Region victory over Woodland at the Furnace.
With fans in a festive mood due to the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new Sonoraville baseball field before the game started and with everyone fired up after SHS principal Amy Stewart threw a strike to Phoenix head baseball coach Deron Walraven with the official first pitch, the Phoenix fell behind early and then hung around all game long before Lyles’ long shot late sent everyone dressed in red home happy.
“It was awesome,” Walraven said of Lyles’ blast over the centerfield wall into the dark night. “Anytime Zach comes up to bat, we feel good about it. We’re fortunate to have him. He’s the best player in Northwest Georgia and when you watch him have nights like he did (Monday), you see why. But he stepped it up in a big situation, just like he always does.”
The way the game started it looked like it was going to a high-scoring affair, but after a first inning that saw the teams both score, things settled down nicely with Sonoraville pitchers A.J.. Hensley and Jaxon Pate throwing seven shutout innings before Lyles’ heroics.
Hensley was the starter and after he gave up three runs in the first inning, he tossed six shutout innings, and retired the last 17 batters he faced as the Wildcats did not have any baserunners from the second inning on.
“After that first inning, A.J. did a great job,” Walraven said. “Once he settled in, they didn’t do anything against him. I mean he threw seven full innings. That’s a complete game if you don’t go to extra (innings), so you can’t really ask anything more from your pitcher. He did have a couple of wild pitches that cost him, but after that first inning, he was just lights out.”
Pate followed him in relief, striking out two of the three hitters he faced in the top of the eighth inning, setting the side down in order.
With Hensley displaying some control issues that saw three wild pitches help Woodland out in a big way, the visitors had a 3-spot on the board before the home team even came to bat.
After a strikeout to start the game, Woodland’s second hitter ripped a single
up the middle and moved to second base on a wild pitch. Woodland’s third hitter, Aiden Ray, walked to put men on first and second base and each advanced one base on another wild pitch.
Julian Wright then belted a gapper into left-centerfield to drive them in and give the visitors a 2-0 lead. He went to third base on a wild pitch and Mason Williams hit a grounder to third that saw Wright get caught in a rundown and eventually called out trying to get back to third.
But Wright held up play long enough for Williams to scamper to second base and the Wildcats’ second hit of the inning — this one from starting pitcher Roland Billings — was an RBI single that put them up 3-zip. He would steal third base, but didn’t score when a fly out to left field ended the top of the first inning.
The Phoenix got one of those runs back in their initial at-bat of the game.
Lyles began the bottom of the first with a walk on four pitches and went to second base on a ground out. He stole third base and after a strikeout, he scored on a single to left by Kannon England.
The top of the second inning began with a walk for Woodland, but from there, Hensley did not allow another baserunner the rest of the
way. A sacrifice bunt moved the Woodland baserunner to second and after a pop out to second base, he was caught trying to steal third base by Sonoraville senior catcher Jackson Balliew to end the inning.
From there, Hensley would retire Woodland in order in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“I give the guys credit for hanging around, but we had a number of opportunities to score and just couldn’t get that hit we needed,” Walraven said. “I mean we had a few different innings where we left guys on. But I think you’ve got to give credit to Woodland. They had good pitching and they made the pitches they needed when they needed to, to keep us from scoring. But we’ve got an experienced team and the kids just kept fighting, and eventually we were able to finish the game and get the win.”
The Phoenix would tie the game up at 3 in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs.
Lyles, who was 3-for-4 on the night, started the frame off with a double to the wall. Pate then hammered a hard shot to short and when it wasn’t handled cleanly, the Phoenix had runners on the corners with nobody out.
Townsend delivered an RBI single to left that plated Lyles to make it 3-2 and got Pate to third base.
At that point, Woodland changed pitchers and England lined out to right field, but Pate raced home on the sacrifice to tie the game at 3. The Phoenix then swiped second base and Clements walked to put the go-ahead runners on.
But Woodland went to their third pitcher of the inning and, on his second pitch, he got Sonoraville to hit into a 4-6-3 double play that ended the fifth with the score tied.
It stayed knotted until the bottom of the eighth whenthe Phoenix got a couple of runners from the bottom
part of their lineup on and Lyles gave them their first lead of the night.
“It feels great to be 5-1 and we could be 6-0, so I’m pleased with the way we are playing right now,” Walraven said. “We just need to continue to work and take it one game at a time. We play three more good teams this week with Ringgold coming here (Tuesday) and then we’ve got Gordon Lee Friday and Christian Heritage Saturday, so it will be another tough week. but that’s why we’re playing these teams. We’re trying to get ready for Region and
hopefully a lot of baseball after that, so you do that by making your pre-Region schedule as tough as you can. So this is another tough week, but I think after winning games like we did (against Woodland), we’re excited about it and looking forward to it.”
The Phoenix will begin Region 7-4A action next Tuesday when they host Northwest Whitfield at the Furnace. The teams in the 7-4A will play a three-game series each week against the same team with one game on Tuesday and then doubleheaders on Friday.