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SCOTT NANNEY/Ledger & Times photo
Calloway County's Josh Streetman (23) slides safely into third base ahead of the tag by Murray High's Bradley Cobb (9) on a steal attempt in the third inning. |
Masthay, Tigers turn the tide on Lakers
By SCOTT NANNEY
Sports Editor
Pitching has certainly been the story during the two regular-season matchups between Fourth District archrivals Murray High and Calloway County.
Last Wednesday, it was Calloway's Austin McCuiston that was in command, limiting Murray to just six hits while striking out eight in a 3-1 Laker victory.
Monday, however, was Tim Masthay's day. The senior left-hander allowed CCHS just two hits and struck out eight while issuing only three walks as the Tigers turned the tables on the Lakers in a 3-1 triumph at Ty Holland Stadium.
Masthay's masterpiece snapped the previously red-hot Lakers' seven-game winning streak, dropping them to 15-3 on the season. In the process, the Tigers (8-10) ended a five-game skid that began with a district loss to Marshall County on April 19.
"We hadn't won since Christian Fellowship (a 14-1 decision on April 18), so we needed to get back on the right track," said Masthay, who also did some damage with the bat with three hits in three at-bats. "It's taken a while for some of our young guys to get used to varsity baseball. But we've got a good bunch of guys."
It's been somewhat of a season-long struggle for the youthful Tigers, who had two eighth graders and three freshmen in the starting lineup yesterday against the mostly veteran Lakers.
Murray's youth showed in last week's loss with three errors that led to all three Calloway runs, costing Masthay an otherwise solid outing on the mound. But Monday was a different story, as the Tigers played solid defense behind the University of Kentucky-bound hurler.
"The last time we played them, we had a couple of errors that they took advantage of," recalled MHS head coach Cary Miller. "But we made some really nice plays out there (Monday), and Masthay pitched a great game. I'm real pleased for him."
Calloway coach Steve Smith also had high praise for Masthay after watching the crafty lefty carve up a Laker lineup that has scored in double figures 12 times this season but has plated just four runs in their last 13 innings.
"He threw a real good ball game," Smith said. "He threw well enough to beat us last week. I'm just disappointed that our guys didn't make the adjustments at the plate that we needed to make. We didn't adjust, and he just kept plugging along."
In another case of role reversal, it was the Lakers' defensive miscues that cost them behind starter Wes Adams, who struck out four and walked two while allowing nine hits in five innings. CCHS did have two errors in last week's contest, but it produced a pair of key plays to hold off the Tigers.
However, that wasn't the case on Monday.
In the bottom of the first inning, a misplayed fly ball in left field off the bat of Matt Vinson led to the Tigers' first run.
Vinson, who reached second base when the ball sailed over the Calloway left fielder's head, scored on a single to right field by Masthay for a 1-0 MHS lead.
The same duo put the Tigers ahead in the fifth, when Vinson stroked a leadoff double to right and then scored on another base hit by Masthay, breaking a 1-1 tie. Then, a Calloway error put the final nail in the Lakers' coffin.
The play that pushed Masthay's run across the plate started innocently enough as Bradley Cobb rolled a grounder to Austin McCuiston at third. Masthay, running on the pitch, rounded second and headed for third on McCuiston's throw to first.
The throw was in time to nab Cobb, but first baseman Pete Thackston's snap throw to third sailed over the head of shortstop Taylor Thieke, allowing Masthay to walk home with the third and final run of the game for Murray.
"There were a couple of times where I felt like we had some momentum, but our defense let us down," Smith explained. "We got out of one jam, but we just gave away runs."
The Tigers held on to a 1-0 lead for three innings despite wasting a golden opportunity to break the game wide open in the second.
Murray loaded the bases with nobody out as walks to Taylor Houston and Hugh Rollins sandwhiched an Adam Heskett single. But the Lakers averted the crisis as Adams struck out Chess Volp, induced a fly out to short center from Aaron Wilson and caught Vinson looking on a called third strike to end the frame.
"All we needed right there was either a ground ball or a fly ball, but we didn't get either one," noted Miller. "Many times, something like that will come back to get you. But it didn't. We were fortunate enough to get hits when we needed them."
The Tigers were originally scheduled to host Graves County this afternoon. However, that contest was scrapped to make room for a Fourth District doubleheader. The revised schedule had MHS playing at Marshall County at 4:30 p.m. before returning to Ty Holland to host Christian Fellowship at approximately 7 p.m.
Across town, the Lakers were slated to host CFS at 4:30. Calloway will host the Marshals on Thursday at 4:30.
Story created May 03, 2005 - 12:35:31 EDT.
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