Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Key hits elude Wildcats in finals loss
CABOT 2, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 1
FAYETTEVILLE — The key hits that set Springdale Har-Ber’s state finals run in motion last week eluded it Friday morning against Cabot.
The Panthers (25-7) collected the school’s first state baseball championship with a 2-1 win over the Wildcats, scoring both runs in the opening two innings and riding the strong arm of pitcher Logan Gilbertson.
Gilbertson, the game’s MVP, gave up just one earned run on four hits in seven innings and held down a Har-Ber offense entering the finals coming off of three straight 10-hit games in the state tournament. The Wildcats (22-10) finished with four hits, two off the bat of Caleb Kimbel.
“I knew (the offense) had me,” Gilbertson said. “My arm felt real nice and I felt like I was throwing it pretty hard. We’re just bringing culture to the town. We’re out here making Cabot more than a football school.”
Cabot, which finished with only three hits, jumped on Har-Ber starting pitcher Blake Adams in the first inning as third baseman Dillon Thomas laced an RBI double to left center. In the second, Adams allowed the first two Panthers to reach and, after a wild pitch and passed ball on consecutive pitches, Bobby Joe Duncan scored to make it a 2-0 game.
But Adams allowed just one hit over his final four innings, sitting the Panthers down in order his last three times to the mound.
“That’s not what got us beat,” Bradley said of Adams’ performance on the mound. “We had a couple of mistakes, the passed ball, we don’t execute on defense, but that’s part of the game. But a 2-1 game, you can’t ask for much more than that in a state championship game.”
What will haunt Har-Ber, though, are the seven runners it stranded in the loss. The Wildcats left two on in the second and fourth innings, and one in the third, sixth and seventh innings.
Jacob Williams’ sacrifice fly in the fourth brought Caleb Kimbel home for HarBer’s lone run of the day before Colin Kozak flew out to center, leaving a pair in scoring position with the Wildcats trailing 2-1 and Gilbertson on the ropes.
In the Har-Ber sixth, controversy made an appearance as Kimbel’s shot down the rightfield line was ruled foul, effectively wiping away a leadoff double and the would-be tying run. Kimbel struckout later in the at-bat.
“My first base coach says it hit right on the chalk,” Bradley said of the call in question. “That’s part of the game. That’s one of the things you don’t have control over. We need to control our emotions better than that. That’s a tough out after feeling like you had a double taken away from you in a one-run game. I’m not going to say one play changed the game. When you look back, we had plenty of opportunities.”
Gilbertson retired Williams, Quinton Deshazo and, after a Blake Thompson hitby-pitch, Blaze Brothers, and the Cabot celebration ensued with Blake McCutchen’s backflip from his shortstop position.
“(Gilbertson) has been our big-game guy all year,” Cabot coach Ronnie Goodwin said. “The situation never seems to get too big for him. Nothing phases him. He’s given us a chance every time out this year, and that’s why we gave him the ball today.”