SUMRALL – In a win-or-go-home scenario, Sumrall turned to a freshman.
Not just any freshman, however. A ninth-grader who was 7-0 on the season with a 0.31 earned run average entering the night. Well, now Kros Sivley is 8-0 after Sumrall took down the West Lauderdale Knights 1-0 to force a Game 3 Monday at 7 p.m. in Collinsville.
“I’ve been coaching a long time and that was one of the top playoff performances that I’ve seen from a kid that young,” Sumrall coach Larry Knight said. “He doesn’t get bothered by anything. It’s kind of funny, the game last week he was actually a little shaky, and we talked about that this week.
“I said, ‘Well, you’ve thrown your first playoff game, so you’re fine now.’”
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Sivley pitched the complete-game shutout with two strikeouts and three walks, and he only allowed two hits to a Knights team that had a .335 batting average.
From a pitching standpoint, both Sivley and West Lauderdale junior Ben Ethridge were dealing all night. The two teams combined for just six hits, but one of those would be a loud one.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Sumrall senior Graham Crawford sent his fourth home run of the year over the right field wall to break the scoreless game and give Sumrall the 1-0 lead. Crawford knew he got all of it, too.
“We didn’t expect him to come in and throw as hard as he did, and of course, he did,” Crawford said. “I knew once he had me 2-0 he had to throw me a fastball, and I was definitely looking for it and I put a good swing on it.”
Ethridge, a Southern Miss commitment, allowed the one earned run on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Saturday was his first loss of the season.
Sivley was red-hot down the stretch of the season. He started his first game of year in the beginning of March, which was a complete-game shutout of Jackson Academy. He proceeded to allow just one earned run in his next six starts leading up to Saturday’s contest with the Knights, where he didn’t allow a run at all.
The freshman started Saturday’s Game 2 with two strikeouts in the first inning, then after allowing a two-out walk in the second, the Sumrall infield turned a 6-4-3 double play to end that inning.
“From the start, I was worried that I’d be nervous like the first playoff game, but I felt good coming into it,” Sivley said. “I just controlled my breathing a little better, and I realized it was just a regular game.”
Sivley was cruising in the third inning, too, but a power outage to half of the stadium’s lights caused a 25-minute delay with two outs. After the delay, West Lauderdale put two runners on, but Sumrall catcher Graham Crawford threw out the would-be base stealer at third base to end the inning.
Sivley said the delay mid-inning didn’t affect him on the mound.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth for Sivley, the Sumrall pitcher showed more talents in the later innings. The Bobcats’ defense got the lead runner out on a sacrifice bunt attempt, then Sivley caught a West Lauderdale base runner trying to steal, and he was eventually caught in a rundown.
In the sixth inning after allowing a one-out single, Sivley picked off another runner to help keep the game scoreless.
“We have different pickoffs, and I’ve always had a good pickoff move since I was like nine,” Sivley said.
As a coach, Knight has been in plenty of playoff series, and he knows a 1-0, Game 2 win can only help heading into a rubber match on Monday.
“It’s certainly better than losing Game 2, I can tell you that much because I’ve been there, too,” Knight said with a laugh. “It’s tough to rebound after losing, but we know it’s going to be hard because we’re going into their place.”
Knight didn’t name a Game 3 start for Monday.
“I’ll have to sleep on it to see who I’m going to throw,” he said.
