Sometimes unexpected things just happen, and they turn out to be one heck of a blessing. That’s what happened for the Columbia Academy Cougars last week as Bowling Green pulled off the upset April 17 and swept Wayne Academy to secure the district title for the Cougars.
Columbia Academy had already finished its district slate the week prior and appeared destined to be the runner-up. Bowling Green, who had lost to Wayne 18-1 March 27, needed to beat the district frontrunner not once, but twice in a row to knock Wayne out of first place. The Buccaneers did just that.
“We obviously didn’t win it the way we wanted to, but at the same time you have to play the same amount of games against the same opponents as the other teams in the district,” CA head coach Heath Smith said. “It kind of goes back to the six-run seventh inning when we walked off against Bowling Green (April 5). If we don’t come back and sweep Bowling Green there, the district title doesn’t happen. It’s good for the kids, and we get a first-round bye and a little different side of the bracket. In the major sports (football, basketball and baseball) we swept the district title all the way across on the male side, so it’s good confidence for them going forward.”
Earning the first-round bye as the MAIS AAA District 4 champion meant the Cougars would have a 10-day layoff between games, but Smith felt like such a long layoff would be detrimental for his team. Less than 12 hours after finding out the news Smith scheduled four games during the bye week to keep the youthful Cougars locked in and fresh.
The four-game stretch started Friday at Southwest Community College against Brookhaven Academy. The Cougars were holding to a slim 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning when starting pitcher Chance Forbes ran into some trouble, and reliever Aaron Thomas struggled to put out the fire as Brookhaven scored five runs and held on to win 7-3.
“Chance, like always, gave us a chance to win late. It’s one of the few times this year where I didn’t think we beat ourselves late. They competed until the end, we competed until the end and it’s one of those things in baseball where they came out on top,” Smith said. “We were able to see some different things in the batting order, had a big hit-and-run where we scored two and got a big hit from Payton Burge who has been a role player in the outfield getting DHed for. He had a really good night at the plate, and we saw some good things. We just need to keep water out of the boat until playoffs and see how things go.”
Burge’s two-run double in the fourth was the offensive highlight for the Cougars, and Drew Havard had an RBI single in the first. The Cougars were held to just four hits as a team and drew only one walk. Forbes lasted 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits and five walks while striking out five.
The Cougars were in Mendenhall Tuesday night to take on Simpson Academy, who also earned a first-round bye in AAAA, but results were unavailable at press time. Columbia Academy will host a doubleheader Friday, playing Centreville Academy at 4:30 p.m. and Simpson at 7. Smith said the extra games will serve as tuneups for the Cougars.
“For the most part we know who we are as a team, but there are a few question areas, mainly in the bullpen. We’re going to throw our three guys we anticipate as our playoff starters. We’ll keep them on a pitch count and keep an eye on our bullpen,” he said. “We’ll try to get some different guys some innings in the bullpen and change a few things in the batting order. It’s nice to get that extra week to solidify some things against quality opponents to figure out our best lineup going into the playoffs.”
The Cougars will play the winner between Central Private School and St. Aloysius in the second round of the playoffs next week. Central Private won Game 1 8-4 Monday night.
Pictured Above: CA's Drew Havard takes a lead off first base. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
