AISA PLAYOFFS: Edgewood scores late to top Macon East, advance to finals

Edgewood catcher Jackson Hudson catches tags out a runner at third base during the Wildcats’ win over Macon East on Friday at Paterson Field. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

When a tornado warning halted play between Macon East Academy and Edgewood Academy on Wednesday in the Alabama Independent School Association Class A baseball semifinals, the Knights owned a comfortable 4-0 lead in the fourth inning of the first game of a doubleheader.

When play resumed, the game turned in a disastrous series of events for Macon East. Five hit batters, two balks and three errors later, a nine-run fifth inning for Edgewood turned into a doubleheader sweep that ended the season for the Knights.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Macon East coach Christian Coston said. “We got two unfortunate balk calls. I’ve never seen two in one inning. But beside that, we just didn’t make the routines, just didn’t make any plays to win the game. Credit Edgewood. They put pressure on us all day and we just didn’t make enough plays to win.”

Edgewood (18-10) will play Lakeside School for the Class A state championship in a best-of-three series beginning on Wednesday at Paterson Field. Macon East ends the season at 26-17.

It didn’t appear that way when play resumed on Friday morning in the top of the fourth inning with Macon East owning a 4-0 lead and two runners on base. The Knights added one more run to make it 5-0 but stranded three runners on base, the start of the disturbing trend that would see Macon East leave 18 runners on base over the 11 innings played on Friday.

Edgewood, meanwhile, would send 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, turning a 5-1 deficit into a 10-5 lead. After recording two quick outs, Macon East starter Bryant Grimes loaded the bases, but got a groundout to apparently end the inning, only to have a pair balks called, wiping off the out and giving the Wildcats a pair of runs to make it 5-3.

A hit batter, a pair of singles and three errors later, the Wildcats were firmly in control over a shell-shocked Macon East squad that never recovered the remainder of the day.

“When you get the third out on a ground ball and then they take us back and call a balk, you never know what the game does when it’s still (a close game),” Coston said. “But he called it a balk. We’ve got to move on. We’ve got to be mentally tough and today we weren’t.” 

The Wildcats followed up the fifth with five more hits -- and four runs -- in the sixth as Landon Smith and Jackson Hudson each had two-run singles.

“You’ve got to swing the bat,” Edgewood coach Justin Chandler said. “If you don’t swing the bat, things don’t happen. You’ve got to have an aggressive approach and when our kids have that aggressive approach, it’s very hard to beat us. I just challenged them that, look, we can either be done with Game One and try to win Game Two and force a third game or we can see what you guys are about.

“The momentum shifted and it was huge.”

After Edgewood won the first game 14-8, the strange plays continued in the second game, with the Wildcats breaking a 1-1 tie in the seventh with four runs.

“Our backs were to the wall and we had to fight for our season,” Coston said. “We had our best pitcher on the mound and he gave us a quality start. We just left so many runners on base, so many scoring opportunities.”

A two-out error opened the door for Edgewood, which got two-run doubles by Jadon Quates and Colten Lashley to break a 1-1 tie as the Wildcats, silent for most of the game, finally woke up offensively in the seventh inning.

 “I didn’t have to say a word,” Chandler said. “I was fixing to call the team together and give them a little pep talk. By the time I could say anything, Landon (Smith) called the whole team together in the dugout. I don’t know what was said, but evidently it worked.”

Macon East’s Jackson Todd held the Wildcats in check for most of the game, allowing six hits before the seventh. Edgewood’s Brock Whitt was even better, giving up just one run on four hits in 5.2 innings after becoming the surprise starter in Game Two.

“He’s been such a crucial part of this program,” Chandler said. “When he says, ‘Hey Coach, I’m feeling good, I want the ball,’ you give it to him. I wasn’t going to start him. He wasn’t even part of our rotation. He came up and said, ‘Give it to me, I want the ball.’ A kid like that who’s been such a crucial part of the program, how do you tell him no? You don’t tell him no. When he’s feeling it, you put him on the mound and let that dog come out in him.”

 And for the second straight year, Macon East fell one series short of reaching the finals after giving up 19 runs, seven earned, in Friday’s doubleheader.

“It was so up and down,” Coston said of the season. “We were playing our best baseball at the right time, just not today. Today it costs us our season. But I’m as proud as I can be of our group. We get back to the final four again. We can’t get over the hump, but we’ll go back to the drawing board, start on next year and see if we can get back and get over the hump.”

AISA BASEBALL STATE PLAYOFFS

Results and pairings for the Alabama Independent School Association state baseball finals at Paterson Field. The championship best-of-three series starts with a doubleheader on Wednesday. A third game, if necessary, will follow on Thursday.

FINALS (Wednesday, Paterson Field)

Class AA

Southern Academy vs. Clarke Prep School (DH), 10 a.m.

CLASS A

Lakeside School vs. Edgewood Academy (DH), 3 p.m.

SEMIFINAL SCORES

CLASS AA

Southen Academy 11-8, Chambers Academy 1-4

Clarke Prep School 6-9, Lowndes Academy 4-3

CLASS A

Lakeside School 8-11, Hope Christian 7-2

Edgewood Academy 14-5, Macon East Academy 8-1

QUARTERFINAL SCORES

CLASS AA

Chambers Academy 11-5-3, Bessemer Academy 1-15-1

Southern Academy 8-9, Fort Dale Academy 3-2

Clarke Prep School 12-13, Springwood School 2-4

Lowndes Academy 5-10-10, Morgan Academy 6-0-7

CLASS A

Lakeside School 12-15, Patrician Academy 0-3

Hope Christian 2-6, Hooper Academy 0-0

Macon East Academy 6-11, South Choctaw Academy 5-1

Edgewood Academy 2-6-10, Coosa Valley Academy 3-5-0

FIRST-ROUND SCORES

CLASS AA

Bessemer Academy 14-7, Jackson Academy 4-6

Fort Dale Academy 12-20, Success Unlimited 0-0

Morgan Academy 10-10, Monroe Academy 0-7

CLASS A

Patrician Academy 6-4-21, Heritage Christian 7-3-6

Hooper Academy 2-18-21, Abbeville Christian 13-13-11

Macon East Academy 12-14, Trinity Christian 0-2

Coosa Valley Academy 3-9, Wilcox Academy 1-6