Munford pitcher Chase Spears remembered the game against Brighton last season when the Cardinals scored eight runs in the 2.2 innings he was on the mound. It still rolled through his mind when he pitched against the Cardinals Tuesday night in Munford.
He refused to make the same mistake twice. Spears struck out seven batters and allowed just five hits in a 3-2 Munford win to split the two-game set vs. Brighton. Sixty-four of his 96 pitches were strikes.
“Yeah, I thought about it a lot,” Spears expressed about his last pitching meeting with Brighton. “But today I felt like I executed a lot more pitches, didn’t leave a lot of balls over the plate, and felt like I did a really good job tonight.”
This is the third consecutive year that the regular season matchups between the two rivals were split.
With two outs in the top of the first, Brighton’s Ben Lavelle singled and Luke Perkins smacked a double to centerfield, which brought in the first run.
Next inning, Noah Lowry beat the tag on third and came home off a fielding error from Perkins, who overthrew the ball to third baseman Bennett Stutts.
Bennett Stutts and Jase Greenland share a light moment in the District 14-AAA matchup series. Photo by David Perry
Munford saw scores in the third as Owen Geiger ripped a single to left field and drove a run in, followed up by Owen Boswell advancing home due to a fielding error two plays later.
Defense showed up when Spears only had two strikeouts in the final innings of the game. They gave up a run when Perkins doubled and Brodie Billings and Stutts each hit a sacrifice bunt to let him score.
“I just got ahead early,” Spears said. “It held me deep in the game, and I just let my defense work. I like when they get to make plays in the field. It’s really fun.”
“Chase has been my guy for four years now,” Munford coach Scotty Yount said about the lefty. “It was his to win or lose.”
M.J. Parimore struck out six in three innings and allowed two hits as the starting pitcher for the Cardinals. Cade Crowson finished the job with four strikeouts and no runs allowed.
Munford moved up to 9-9 this season. Brighton dropped to 11-5.
Game 1 recap:
Andrew Davis faced 32 batters and struck out 11 in a 4-2 victory over Munford. Stutts led the batters with two hits on two at-bats.
In other baseball:
Covington (8-4) shut out Lincoln-Way East 9-0 at home on Tuesday. Braden Gover had a one-hitter with eight strikeouts and Lane Butler led the offense, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
The Tipton-Rosemark Rebels took two games over Fayette Academy, 2-0 and 12-2, in district play. Eli West struck out 14 with no runs allowed on Monday and Eli Ramsey had 10 strikeouts on Tuesday.
Author: David Perry
Writer
