STARKVILLE — Starkville Academy had a chance to steal a game from Simpson Academy in the first round of the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 5A playoffs.
The Volunteers hosted game one of a best of three series, and held their own, even having chances to take the lead, but the Cougars held the Vols scoreless.
Vols starting pitcher Drew Williams did the same, holding Simpson Academy scoreless, but the Cougar bats woke up in the seventh, scoring twice en route to a 2-0 win.
It was the game that got away, but a final score that felt much bigger than a two-run loss.
“He pitched his butt off,” Starkville Academy head coach Thomas Berkery said. “I told the guys after that the game boiled down to three pitches and two of them were pretty good curveballs. The reason I made that point is so that the guys stay locked in and command like Drew did.”
Heading into the seventh inning, both starters were tossing gems on the mound and were working quickly.
Williams wasn’t working himself into deep counts, pitching to contact and getting outs, and those first six innings took maybe 80 minutes or so to complete.
“It started with just landing my off-speed pitches and commanding both sides of the plate, letting my teammates work behind me, creating soft contact and letting them field the ball,” Williams said.
As the No. 1 starter for the Vols (10-21), if they wanted to have any chance against Simpson Academy (31-2) he needed to pitch a shutout.
“That’s going to be Drew every time he goes out,” Berkery said. “We just have to go down there and fight.”
The Cougars did all of their damage with no outs, forcing Williams to battle back in the inning and contain the damage.
“It’s tough for a few seconds, but on the mound, you just have to flush it and go to the next pitch because if you don’t and you let it linger, it’s going to come back to bite you again.”
Offensively, the Volunteers struggled to get much going against Simpson starter Colin Jenkins, who allowed three hits and three walks. The Vols failed to take advantage when they had baserunners.
“That just comes from maturity,” Williams said. “We have to have players that are willing to step up and make those. We’ve had guys do that during the season, but it’s just some games are like that.”
Down 1-0, the series now shifts to Simpson on Thursday, where the Vols will have to win twice to advance on.
“We’ll go down there and scrap,” Berkery said. “… It’s always good to see a group and figure out how you got them out. We’ve got some great scouting reports from some other teams. Now we have ours mixed in with it, so we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do now.”
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