Mills River – West is enjoying its deepest baseball playoff drive since winning a state title in 1992. Since then, the prior best was reaching round four in 2005.
West Henderson won a dramatic 5-4 victory over East Rowan on Friday, corralling the Mustangs in round four to reach a best-of-three regional finals this week.
West Lady Falcons (17-6) lost 6-1 at Carson in round three of softball on May 17. But soccer Lady Falcons (21-3) won their first two playoff contests.
Third seed West Henderson (23-5) is the highest-ranked baseball team still in the 3A West Region. The Falcons lost 5-2 to 14th seed Oak Grove Grizzlies (19-9) on Tuesday, but if they win game two at OGHS in Winston-Salem on Thursday they host the decisive third game at 5 p.m. Saturday.
West, like T.C. Roberson in 4A, beat a Mustang team at home on Friday. West edged tenth-seeded East Rowan Mustangs (23-6) from Salisbury.
Preying on Mistakes
The opportune Falcons are “birds of prey,” preying on enemy mistakes to score crucial runs. They broke a 4-4 tie in their final at-bat, in the bottom of the seventh inning. “Alert” Alex Anderson — “AAA” — was on third base with Jude Lyda batting.
A passed ball bounced past the catcher. Anderson raced in. He slid aggressively, headfirst. He touched home plate safely, just before Mustang pitcher Logan Dyer took the catcher’s throw and reached the plate. Dyer tripped over Anderson, and toppled down in a Wild World of Sports “Agony of Defeat” moment.
Anderson led West with three hits. He doubled deep in that last inning, to ignite the winning rally. Truitt Manuel intentionally walked. Both runners advanced a base on a passed ball. These two Falcons pulled off a double steal that triggered a 16-1 rout of Atkins Camels in round one.
“We challenged their pitchers” with aggressive hitting and base running, senior Anderson said. In batting, “we put the ball in play. I knew we’d pick up the winning run.”
West head coach Jackie Corn, Jr. said such close contests are valuable experience in the state title quest. He said that “the team that makes the key hits and limits mistakes wins.” Manuel called it a “hard-fought win. We got it done. It was a good team effort.”
‘Manuel Overdrive’
Manuel started the first five innings. He struck out seven Mustangs. He yielded two earned runs. Nicky Stanko went the last two frames, earning the victory. Manuel shut out North Lincoln 8-0 in round two.
Once Stanko relieved him in round four, Manuel manned right field. Two Mustangs were in scoring position in the top of the seventh inning. Manuel’s spectacular catch thwarted the rally. He raced to the foul line. He caught the fly ball just before smashing into a brick wall. Manuel flipped over the wall, landing on his hands so he did not smash the rest of him into the concrete.
In tying that East Rowan game 1-1 in the first, Manuel’s sacrifice fly brought home leadoff batter Jackson Lyda. Lyda had advanced on a bunt single. Manuel later singled. Colin Ingle had two hits. The game stayed close, and was tied 3-3 after three innings. East Rowan scored in the fifth, to lead 4-3.
West tied it in the sixth as Ingle scored from third after the catcher overthrew second base, then won it in the seventh inning.
Power, ‘Small Ball’
West rallied past 11th-seeded Kings Mountain 9-7 in round three on May 16. West led 6-3 after one inning. Jackson Lyda singled. Anderson launched a homer to center field. The Falcons loaded the bases. Eli Shinn belted a grand slam to right field.
After four scoreless innings, the Mountaineers climbed back on top. They scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning — three on a dropped fly ball, and one on a bloop single. Suddenly, they led 7-6.
West, however, answered with three runs to retake the lead for good. Lukas Kachilo pinch hit. He singled in Jude Lyda with the tying run, slicing the ball just inside the right field line. Kachilo, WNC’s leading quarterback last fall, said he was pumped up for his pressure at-bat. He delivered.
West took the lead with two more runs, scoring on successive errors. “We put pressure on them” by getting on base and with adept base running, Coach Corn said. Eli Shinn walked. He raced home and dove into a cloud of dust, on a passed ball. Then Kachilo strode home on a wild pitch, for West’s ninth and final run.
This was a prelude to the dramatic winning run in round four on a passed ball.
West also beat Kings Mountain in round three in 1992, en route to winning the state baseball title. Anthony Lindsey was a Falcon left-handed pitcher then. He now helps coach West baseball. His son is Falcon senior first baseman Jake Lindsey.