WIGGINS - From time and time again this season, Sumrall has relied on its pitching to earn its wins. Thursday night was no exception to that as the Bobcats edged out Stone 2-1 in the first game of the 4A South State championship.
Sumrall’s Kros Sivley and Stone’s Gehrig Conard went toe to toe in a pitching duel that saw them combine for 17 strikeouts on the night in front of an announced crowd of 1,716.
“Sadly, the thing about Kros is that we never give him a whole lot of run support,” Sumrall coach Andy Davis said. “He kind of understands that.
“(We had) big hits towards the end of the game. You can’t just count our guys out. They know that in the dugout. This is a gritty group.”
Sivley’s only blemish of the night came in the first inning as Stone took a 1-0 lead as the Tomcats came up with back-to-back one-out singles to score their only run of the game.
The only other jam Sivley fell into was in the third as Stone came up with back-to-back hits, but Sumrall’s Ty Little caught a line drive and tagged out the runner at second base to end the inning on a double play.
Sivley got stronger on the mound as the game went on as he retired the next 12 batters he faced to finish the game. Sivley struck out seven batters, allowed no walks and gave up one run off four hits.
“It was just fastballs (working for me),” Sivley said. “I could hit spots so easy. My curveball hasn’t been there the past couple of times that I was pitching. I found my changeup late in the game, and it really helped me a lot.”
On the opposite end, Conard pitched delivered another stellar performance after coming off a shutout win against Purvis just two days after the loss of his father. Conard racked up 10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
“He is everything we have heard and more,” Davis said. “Somebody like him being on our team would be unbelievable. He is a leader on their team. He is surrounded by love. I wanted to talk to him after the game. He is what you want in a pitcher. We have been praying for them and praying for the community. There are no words that describe him having to come out here the past two weeks and do what he did. He did enough to win the ball game.
“Nothing prepared for us what he does. We just tried to get his pitch count up; hopefully, he would make a mistake.”
Conard struck out six straight batters between the third and fifth innings. However, Sumrall managed to take the lead in the sixth inning after Conard gave up a leadoff walk, with Hayes Rayner capitalizing with an RBI double to tie the game. Marshall Phillips then followed with another RBI double to give Sumrall its lead. According to Phillips, the key adjustment the Bobcats tried to make was shortening their swing against the left-handed Conard.
“We worked hard on not getting beat on the fastball,” Phillips said. “He was trying to spot up outside, and he did it very well. He came in with the off-speed very well. That’s really what he beat on us in the beginning. Coming into that sixth inning, we knew we had to change some things up and be short to it.”
“He is a special kid, that’s for sure. That would be tough on anybody, and he handles it very well. He is a good kid, and he is going to go pretty far.”
Sumrall is now one win away from punching its first ticket since 2018. The Bobcats will host Stone for Game 2 on Saturday at 7 p.m.
“Words don’t describe it,” Davis said. “These boys have worked so hard. I don’t want them to be disappointed. At this point, I’m not going to be disappointed, but I don’t want them to be disappointed. We have had a great year and a lot of support.”
