PG, Atlanta clash in scrimmage

ATLANTA, Texas — Atlanta and Pleasant Grove, two baseball teams with a habit of making deep playoff runs, knocked off the rust in a scrimmage in Atlanta on Monday night.

The score isn’t supposed to matter in these affairs, but two sets of packed stands for a scrimmage indicates someone cares. For the record, PG was leading at presstime, 7-3, after seven innings. Both teams displayed strong pitching, at times sharp defense, and in the case of PG, timely, two-out hitting.

Jarrod Halter, Hunter Digby and Brenton Clark held the Rabbits to one run through the first six innings. Will Woodruff and Peyton Harvish held PG scoreless through four before the Hawk bats came alive.

In the fifth, Ty Boozer drove a two-strike, two-out pitch to the wall in left center to plate a pair of runs.

J.M. Long widened the lead when he rocketed a shot to the base of the wall in center to drive two more in the seventh. Long also made a spearing dive of a hot line drive to rob Atlanta of a scoring opportunity.

This was PG coaches’ first look at a defending state champion that is restocking. What PG’s 4A opponents could not do a year ago, graduation did. At one point, five Hawk freshman were on the field against Atlanta.

“We had several upper classmen playing multiple positions tonight,” said PG coach Riley Fincher. “They were leading the youngsters and that will only make us better as a team.

“I liked the way we attacked when running the bases and I thought we played good defense in spots,” Fincher added. “I like the way this team is as a team. They’re a scrappy bunch that looks out for each other.”

Atlanta coach David Hooten said he has the makings of a team capable of a 3A playoff run.

“I liked our pitchers and that we played good defense,” Hooten said. “We were aggressive at the plate, but this was our first exposure to live pitching, and it showed. The hitting will come around.”