Despite falling short in last week’s quest to deliver top-ranked Sumrall its first loss of 2022, the Columbia Wildcats bounced back strong on Saturday with a 5-4 comeback win on the road against the highly-touted West Jones Mustangs, lifting the team’s confidence in its ability to compete with top tier teams down the backstretch of the season.
The Wildcats started strong in both outings against the undefeated Bobcats, even pulling ahead 4-3 in the fourth inning in front of the home crowd last Monday. A couple of late-inning surges, however, allowed Sumrall to pull away for victories of 14-4 and 6-2 to remain atop the Region 7-4A standings. Columbia head coach Kyle Lindsey said he believes it is clear that depth and stamina within the pitching rotation will be key for any teams that want to upend the Bobcats — and it won’t be easy.
"I know we aren't the only ones out there who wish we had as many arms to work with as Sumrall," Lindsey said. "That's just what you have to expect when you play a great baseball team. Everyone knows what a great program Sumrall has and how tough they are to compete with, but I really thought we went toe-to-toe with them through the first four innings or so. Unfortunately, things just kind of derailed down the backstretch.”
Capitalizing on lessons learned against Sumrall, the Wildcats finished much stronger on Saturday in Soso, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to pull ahead and secure a 5-4 win over the Class Mustangs. With the bases loaded and one out on the board, Eli Lowery hit a line-drive single to left field to bring Naji Cain across home plate for what ultimately served as the winning run.
Dylan Wallace, who also hit a solo home run in the third, earned the save by stacking three outs in four at-bats in the bottom of the seventh. Singing the same tune as his head coach, Wallace said the biggest key to Saturday’s win was delivering a full seven innings of the Wildcats’ best baseball.
“It was just us locking in for the whole game,” Wallace explained. “We’re a good team, and win as a team and lose as a team, so I think the biggest thing was just all of us locking in and staying focused the whole time.”
Just two at-bats after Wallace’s long ball, Lowery sent one of his own over the right field wall, giving the Wildcats an early 3-0 lead with his fourth home run in two weeks. The two power hitters lead the team in production at the plate so far this season, with Wallace batting .407 with 11 RBI and Lowery batting .377 with 17 RBI.
Sam Carney earned the win as the starting pitcher, tossing seven strikeouts and allowing no earned runs through just over five innings. The senior leader said he and his team feel confident in their abilities to continue succeeding whenever they are firing on all cylinders the way they were over the weekend.
“We started out just a little slow, but we really got going,” Carney said. “The hitting got there, the pitching stayed there the whole game, and we made a few minor errors, but we found a way to bounce back. I love this team, and we know we can play really well when we all step up to get the job done.”
“This took some of the edge off after losing a couple tough ones in district (play),” added Lindsey. “Sam pitched really well out there, and we played through some adversity and made the plays we had to make in order to get the win.”
The Wildcats will look to carry Saturday’s momentum back into district play this week with a pair of contests against Lawrence County. The first took place Tuesday, although results were unavailable at press time, followed by a non-district home game against Tylertown on Saturday to close out another week of MHSAA baseball.
