Red Devils overcome early Isabella lead for home win
Published 8:08 am Saturday, March 15, 2014
Maplesville’s Trent Smitherman, left, is greeted by coach Brandon Shanks as Smitherman rounds third base after a two-run home run in the fifth inning of Friday’s game against Isabella.
By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser
A two-run top of the first inning gave the Isabella varsity baseball team an early lead on the road against Maplesville on Friday, but errors cost the Mustangs down the stretch as MHS came back from the early deficit to pick up a 14-6 win.
In the first, a Jeffrey Underwood shot to the center field wall score Jacob Carroll and result in a stand up triple for Isabella’s Underwood.
One batter later, Alex Sherrill doubled to left center field, scoring Underwood and giving the Mustangs (4-5) a two-run lead.
Maplesville tied the game in the bottom of the second inning with Trent Smitherman scoring for the Red Devils (8-2) as well as Chase Girlie, who would tag and score on a Zach Bush sacrifice fly to center field.
Thanks to multiple errors by the Mustangs in the bottom of the third, the Red Devils tacked on five more runs in the inning. With the bases loaded and one out, a Nathan Bush single up the middle scored two for the Red Devils.
Trevor Wallace reached first base on an infield grounder, scoring another run for Maplesville, who led 7-2 after three innings of play.
Isabella’s Jeffrey Underwood (right) slides back into first base before Maplesville’s Zach Bush can apply a tag for an out.
A three-run blast over the left field wall by Lane Brown in the top half of the fourth inning put the Mustangs back in the game, but another five-run inning for the Red Devils in the bottom of the inning put the game back heavily in favor of Maplesville.
With a 12-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, a two-run home run by Smitherman extended the Red Devils’ lead to nine runs.
A Brown single to right center field scored Brandon Chapman and gave the Mustangs one more run on the board, but a three-up, three-down top of the seventh inning for the Mustangs brought the game to an end.
Chapman got the start for Isabella on the mound and pitched 4 1/3 innings while giving up 12 hits, two walks and eight earned runs, and striking out three.
Underwood led the Mustangs at the plate, going a perfect 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Colby Chambers took the mound for the Red Devils and pitched five innings while recording five strikeouts and allowing five earned runs on seven hits.
Smitherman went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, and two RBI.
