By T. Scott Boatright
The Simsboro Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning Thursday night against Castor.
And that would be all the offense Simsboro needed considering the mixture of smoke and curveballs junior pitcher Cade Barmore was hurling early on.
But that didn’t stop the Tigers from continuing to swing the bats as they earned an 11-1 10-run rule win over Castor in five innings on the SHS baseball field.
After Barmore earned his first strikeout in the top half of the opening stanza, Simsboro scored a pair of runs in bottom half of the inning after Chris Harrell tripled in leadoff batter Max Lee, who had been hit by a pitch to reach first base and then stole second.
Braylon Gibson followed with an RBI double to put the Tigers up 2-0 heading into the second inning.
Then Barmore went to work, forcing a groundout to start that inning before striking out the next Castor batters.
Barmore continued his early dominance in the top half of the third inning before Simsboro added three more runs in the bottom half of that stanza to build a 5-0 advantage heading into the fourth inning.
“He didn’t play last year,” Simsboro coach Scott Hiers said of Barmore. “So, he’s still learning. He’s come a long way and is a really good kid. The fact he’s filling up the strike zone and only giving up one or two walks per game shows the progress he’s making. He gives our defense a chance to win games.”
But Barmore momentarily got off track to start the fourth after a throwing error allowed the leadoff Castor batter to reach first.
A single advanced that baserunner to second before that player scored on a single that he ran past third and headed home.
It was a close play at the plate, but a bobbled catch allowed the baserunner to score and cut the Simsboro lead to 5-1 before the Tigers pulled off a double play and then put out a Castor baserunner between third and home on an unassisted play by Barmore.
“I was going to take him out after the next inning, but he just kept cool and kept on working,” Hiers said of Barmore. “But he did his job. He did what he’s supposed to do, and that’s all I can ask, so I kept him in.”
Simsboro added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks in part to four walks given up by Castor, with a sacrifice fly by Chris Harrell and a two-RBI by Noah Thomas accounting for those scores.
After Barmore recorded two more strikeouts in the top of the fifth inning, Simsboro pinch hitter Michael Watts walked, reached second on a passed ball and then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
“He (Watts) is just a junior so I just put him in to get some more experience,” Hiers said. “We’re going to be counting on next year so any chance I get to put him in there I try to do it.”
When Simsboro’s Chris Stevens was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base, Harrell’s two-RBI single pushed the Tigers’ lead to 10-1.
Gibson then blasted a single to allow Harrell to score his second run of the contest and give the walkoff win to the Tigers on the 10-run rule.
Barmore went the distance on the mound for Simsboro, giving up one unearned run on only two Castor hits while finishing with seven strikeouts.
Gibson led Simsboro batters, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs and a walk while Harrell went 2-of-3 with four runs batted in.
Thomas batted 1-of-3 for the Tigers with two RBIs and one run while DJ Cedotal added another run batted in for Simsboro.
But maybe the biggest stat contributing to Simsboro’s win was 10 stolen bases.
“In big games, close games, stolen bases are important,” Hiers said. “In games like this, where the catcher is over two seconds getting the throw to second, it’s about getting better at doing it. It’s just making sure you get the right leads because you know you have a good chance of being safe.
The win pushed Simsboro to 16-6 overall while evening the Tigers’ district record at 1-1.
“Playing like they did tonight is good for the players’ confidence,” Hiers said. “You’d like to do it with a little more enthusiasm, a little more sense of urgency, but you can’t have that every game.”
