New Hope High School senior pitcher Peyton Buckner did not feel comfortable Friday night.
His spirits were then lifted by a first-inning grand slam from teammate Bryce Braddock.
After the slam, Buckner finished off a three-hitter as New Hope beat Lake Cormorant 7-1 in the opening game of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A playoffs at Trojan Field.
The best-of-three series will resume at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lake Cormorant. The teams were scheduled to play Saturday but rain changed those plans.
“The home run was big, it made me feel a lot better,” Buckner said. “I felt like I was struggling out there tonight. It was not my best game but I did enough. The hit by Bryce was big because it just made everything easier.”
New Hope (16-11) has been known for swinging the bats better of late. It has not been known for scoring runs early in games.
“When you get up there with the bases loaded, you are excited,” said Braddock. “I was just putting trying to put the ball in play. We struggled with runners in scoring position early in the season, so that always goes through your mind. Here of late, we have been knocking more of those runners in. Fortunately, I was able to bring all of four of them in.”
Braddock said the team has improved its work ethic in the last month of the season. Several Trojans are putting in those extra hours to come out on top in the end.
“It’s a different attitude now and that is why we have a chance,” Braddock said. “The coaches were dogging us for our effort earlier in the season. We had a meeting at the hotel on our spring break trip and we were really challenged. We started off (the season) strong and then fell off a little bit. We had to work harder to get where we wanted to go.”
On what was considered an off night by both he and his head coach, Buckner battled. He allowed three hits and walked two but when the day ended only faced four batters past the minimum.
Spectacular defensive plays, including a catch by sophomore Rye McGlothin in the outfield, aided the cause.
“Peyton didn’t have his best stuff but he battled,” New Hope coach Lee Boyd said. “It seemed like he was behind on the count the entire night. You saw what you wanted out of a senior. He just kept battling. He kept getting outs. He gave us a chance.”
Lake Cormorant (12-16) did not have a hit after the second inning. The Gators did bunch a pair of singles with a walk to score a run in the second inning. Bucker would retire 15 of the final 16 batters he faced.
“They have some talented athletes,” Boyd said. “They have some players who can make plays. That is why it was important to come out here and take care of business. We ended the regular season playing well so I was looking forward to seeing if we could build off that.”
New Hope expanded the lead with an RBI-single by Parker Lane and two errors for another run in the fifth inning. A three-base error in the outfield and a ground ball out scored the final run in the sixth inning.
Thomas Stevens and Lane each had two of New Hope’s nine hits.
“The playoffs are important around here,” Braddock said. “This program has a lot of tradition. We want to do our part to keep that tradition going. We don’t want people to stay it stopped with this group.”
n In other playoff action, Caledonia beat New Albany 6-0 Friday night in Class 4A.
The teams will play their second game at 3 p.m. today in Caledonia.
West Lowndes and Salem split two games in Class 1A Friday.
West Lowndes lost 9-5 before winning 6-5.
That series plays a deciding third game at 5 p.m. Monday at West Lowndes.
In prep softball, the New Hope season is over after 10-9 and 11-4 losses to Germantown in Class 5A first-round action.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.