TUPELO — The Columbus High School baseball team earned a signature win Wednesday night on the home field of one of its biggest rivals.
In the process, the Falcons secured a playoff bid and ended another team’s season.
Trace Lee pitched a complete-game six-hitter to lead Columbus to a 2-0 victory against Tupelo in a Class 6A, Region 2 game.
The victory helped Columbus (15-8, 5-4 region) earn the No. 2 seed in the region behind Grenada, which beat South Panola. Grenada earned the top seed on a tiebreaker, while South Panola edged Tupelo out of the third and final playoff spot from the region thanks to another tiebreaker. Both of those teams finished 4-5 in the region.
“It was their Senior Night and this is probably the first time in 20-plus years Tupelo isn’t going to be in the playoffs,” Columbus coach Jeff Cook said. “To do it at their field with another shutout is a great feeling. Beating Tupelo at their place with so much on the line, I couldn’t be prouder of our kids and their effort.”
Columbus advances to play at 6 p.m. Friday at Warren Central in game one of a best-of-three series. Game two will be back in Columbus on Saturday, with an if-needed game to follow later that day.
Lee had a no-hitter through three and a half innings and finished with five strikeouts and one walk. He worked out of several jams to help Columbus beat Tupelo for the second time this season.
Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Lee was hit by a pitch. Kendrick Conner pinch ran for Lee and stole second and moved to third base on a groundout by Gevonta Webb. With two outs, Glenn Robinson laid down a drag squeeze bunt that was perfectly placed.
“It was a beautiful bunt,” Cook said. “It was a great play by him. It was probably his eighth bunt hit of the year. Kendrick made a great read, and (Glenn) was probably 10 feet by the bag.”
Tupelo tried to answer in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back hits, but shortstop Christian Dale worked with Greg Sykes to start a double play that helped the Falcons escape any damage.
In the seventh, Jimmy Cockrell walked and Dale was hit by a pitch. Chris McCullough followed with an opposite-field single for an insurance run.
Lee worked out of more trouble in the bottom of the seventh. He walked the first and the next batter singled to right field, but Dale took the cutoff throw and tagged the runner at second base off after he stepped off the base. With one out, right fielder Hunter Mullis recovered after a flyball wasn’t caught and hit Dale with a relay throw. Dale reacted and threw to Webb to retire the runner from second base who broke on contact. Lee then ended the game with a strikeout.
“Trace battled,” Cook said. “He is a special kid and a special player. He made some big-time pitches, and he had a big strikeout in the sixth inning with guys on first and second. He is such a competitor. He did an outstanding job controlling the game.”
Cook realized the Falcons had potential at the beginning of the season, but he wasn’t sure if the young players would mature. He said the latest victory is a sign of how far Columbus, which started five 10th-graders Wednesday night, has come.
“You could just tell the learning process the kids went through and how they have matured,” Cook said. “Tonight even when we made our one error we were quickly able to turn it around to a positive and we were able to relay the throw to get the out that quick. It was just a well-played game by our kids. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“Our kids have never bought into the limitations (of our program) and they have really worked extremely hard. It is just a cohesive group that has stayed together. I challenged them at the first of the year about team unity, and we are so young. … Webb behind the plate has really grown leaps and bounds, and Hunter has developed into a really great player. Christian and Trace and Jimmy Cockrell all have improved so much. Big things are going to happen in the next few years.”
New Hope girls, boys second, third at division meet: At Oxford, New Hope High’s Mercedes Mattix won the 100 and 200 meters and was a part of the winning 4×100-meter relay team and West Point High’s Peair Howard won the 100 and 200 Wednesday at the Class 5A, Division 2 meet at Oxford High School.
Mattix won the 100 (12.8 seconds) and the 200 (25.77). She teamed with Lashya Davis, Shanae Hunt, and Shanice Nottage to win the 4×100 in a time of 51.13.
Oxford won the girls team title with 123.5 points. New Hope was second with 63, while West Point was third with 36.5.
Howard won the 100 (11.43) and the 200 (22.81) to lead the West Point boys to a second-place finish (47 points). Oxford took the team title (114). New Hope (43) was third.
In the girls meet, New Hope’s Hunt was second on the 100 (13.41) and third in the 200 (27.2), Kennedi Sanders was second in the 100 hurdles (17.7), second in the 300 hurdles (52.43), and second in the high jump (4 feet, 6 inches), New Hope’s 4×200 relay team of Tierra Dentry, Chelsea Psalms, Sanders, and Tylesha Washington was first (1:48.77), West Point’s 4×200 team of Leslie Bean, Alexis Gates, Ashley Gibson, and Kaliyah Logan was third (1:54.05), West Point’s 4×100 team of Bean, Gates, Gibson, and Logan was third (53.34), New Hope’s Dentry was third in the 400 (1:10.7), West Point’s 4×400 team of Jasmine Chewe, Gates, Laquandra Ivy, and Fantasia Shelton was second (4:49.69), New Hope’s 4×400 team of Sydney Brocksmith, Dentry, Reagen Hern, and Sarah Hern was third (4:55.06), West Point’s Keisha Walker was third in the long jump (15-3 1/2), West Point’s Gates won the high jump (4-9), West Point’s Shakandis Spraggins was second in the shot put (27-10), West Point’s Tyshia McCurry was second in the discus (74-7), West Point’s Tahja Sykes was third in the triple jump (24-10), and New Hope’s Taylor Brown was third in the pole vault (7-0).
In the boys meet, New Hope’s Quartez Temple was third in the 110 hurdles (18.24) and third in the 300 hurdles (44.95), West Point’s 4×200 team of Wheeler Daquin, Devasquez Ford, Howard, and Nelson McIntosh was first (1:32.89), New Hope’s 4×200 team of Daniel Gregory, Todd Harris, James Hill, and Quanterris Newby was third (1:34.79), New Hope’s Silvanus Johnson was third in the 1,600 (4:59.28), West Point’s Keon McKinney won the 400 (53.09), West Point’s Wheeler Daquin was second in the 400 (53.10), West Point’s Ariontae Warren was second in the 300 hurdles (44.88), West Point’s Daryl Thomas was second in the 800 (2:07.54), New Hope’s Harris and Gregory were second and third in the 200 (23.68, 23.78), West Point’s 4×400 team of Daquin, McKinney, Onassis Pratt, and Sirmon Russell won with a time of 3:36.29, New Hope’s 4×400 team of Najee Fisher, Deangelo Hamilton, Ryan Lee, and Ryan Lowe was third (3:56.22), New Hope’s Darrion Cribbs was third in the high jump (5-10), and New Hope’s Hill won the triple jump (42-7).
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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