Jackets battle Murphy to the final out
By Travis Dockery
Editor / 389 Country
A sizeable crowd gathered at Hayesville High School's baseball field on Thursday, May 5 to watch the Yellow Jackets end their regular season as they hosted Murphy. The Jackets showed grit, battling to the final out. Unfortunately, a late-game rally game up short as the Bulldogs got the the 12-9 win.
Murphy got on the board first with a pair of runs in their half of the first inning. The Jackets cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning with a solo run. The pattern repeated in the second for both teams and going into the third, the Bulldogs led 4-2.
In the third, Hayesville was able to gain ground by keeping Murphy scoreless in the top of the inning and plating a run in the bottom half to pull within 1 run of tying things up. The top of the fourth saw the Bulldogs put together their best offensive attack of the game. By the third out, Murphy had scored 6 runs to grow their lead to 10-3.
Scoring halted until the bottom of the fifth when the Jackets rallied for a trio of runs. Murphy was able to get 2 of those runs back in the top of the sixth. The game moved on and in the bottom of the seventh and final inning with Hayesville trailing 12-6.
Refusing to accept that outcome, the Yellow Jackets swarmed. Hayesville poked Murphy's pitcher to string together hits and ignite a rally. The home team cut the lead to 12-9, but that's where the rally and game ended.
Key Contributors: Junior third baseman Cade Denton led the Yellow Jackets with three hits, including a double and 4 RBIs. Catcher Avery Leatherwood went 2-4 with 3 RBIs. Starting pitcher Braxton Cherry gave up 4 earned runs on eight hits, three walks and struck out four in four innings of work.
Noteworthy: The Yellow Jackets end the regular season 10-4 overall and 8-4 in the Smoky Mountain Conference, landing them in third in the final standings.
Up next: Hayesville awaits the release of the playoff brackets to see where and when their next game is.