GAINESVILLE -- As positively destined as the North Hall baseball team seemed to be in reaching the Class AAA championship series on Tuesday in the semifinals against Blessed Trinity, a negative juju seemed to be hanging over the Trojans' fate Saturday in the title series against Cartersville.
Untimely and uncharacteristic errors and a sudden lack of offensive production doomed the Trojans as they suffered gut-wrenching 4-2 and 2-1 losses to the Hurricanes in a stunning sweep in the championship series at Jody Davis Field
It was the first time all season North Hall (32-6) had suffered back-to-back losses and the three runs was the lowest back-to-back totals of the season. The four errors in the two games was more than they had committed in the previous two rounds combined.
"I guess you could say it just wasn't meant to be," North Hall coach Trent Mongero said. "We just never could get on top of things. We came up short on a couple of key plays and (Cartersville) took advantage of them."
Coming into the season few expected the Trojans, who had never advanced past the second round of the playoffs, to get this far. But led by seniors Zach Mize, Griffin Olson, Colton Duttweiler, Adam Kelly, and Preston Graham, they ran off a 17-game win streak and then knocked off the No. 1 team in Blessed Trinity to advance to the finals.
"This was a special group and I'm going to miss them terribly," Mongero said. "They did everything we asked of them and more. This will hurt for a while but they'll look back in a couple of days and realize what they accomplished. I told them I was just unbelievably proud of them."
As in most series between evenly-matched teams, both games came down to just a couple of big moments.
In Game 1, the Hurricanes scored two runs on routine popups behind first base that dropped between three fielders. The Trojans also left 12 runners on base, six in scoring position.
In Game 2, a passed ball allowed a runner to third before a sacrifice fly and an error in the seventh led to the game-winning run. North Hall led 1-0 until the fifth inning.
"Those are plays we normally make," Mongero said. "But you never know how things are going to play out. It just seemed that (Cartersville) was able get some breaks and bounces to go their way and we didn't. But that's baseball."
Game 1: Cartersville 4 North Hall 2
Both pitchers started slow in front of arguably the largest crowd to ever watch a baseball game in Hall County. Graham yielded a lead-off single to Connor Justus but fanned the next two batters and got a long fly ball to right to get out of the inning.
Cartersville's Hayes Linn got tagged for three hits in the first inning. Zach Mize ripped a one-out single to left but was gunned down trying to stretch it into a double. Griffin Olson and Colton Duttweiler followed with back-to-back singles but Linn struck out Adam Kelly to get out of the inning with no runs scored.
Graham allowed a lead-off double to Drew Lawson in the second and then back-to-back doubles to Ty Fowler and Beau Benefield to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. Justus would add a RBI single to make it 3-0 but Graham would get Tripp Jamieson to ground into a double play to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second the Trojans would get back-to-back one out walks from Stephen Murray and McCoy Savage but Lin was able to get Graham and Andrew Smith to pop out to second to get out of another jam.
In the top of the third Graham worked around a walk and an error to keep it a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning Linn would allow a double to Duttweiler and walk Kelly with two outs but struck out Lincoln Hewett to get out of another jam.
Graham would finally retire the Hurricanes in order in the fourth and the Trojans finally broke through against Linn. Savage doubled with one out, moved to third on a single by Graham, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Smith to trim the lead to 3-1 after four.
Cartersville would answer right back in the fifth. Jamieson led off with a single and then Austin Adams reached on a bunt single. After a Jojo Underwood sacrifice, Lawson knocked in Jamieson with a single to right for a 4-1 lead.
North Hall had a chance to tie or take the lead in the bottom of the sixth loading the bases on an error and two walks. But Justus, who came on in relief of Linn to start the sixth, got Griffin Olson to ground out to end the inning.
After Graham got out of the seventh, the Trojans got the tying runs on base with two out in the bottom of the seventh. Duttweiler singled to start and Murray walked with two out. But Justus, who picked up the save with two scoreless innings, struck out Savage to end the game.
Game 2: Cartersville 2, North Hall 1
Unlike Game 1, starters Duttweiler and Rutledge dominated throughout.
Rutledge retired the first nine North Hall batters while Duttweiler allowed just three two-out walks and no hits over his first three innings.
North Hall would strike first, however, in the fourth. Smith reached on a lead-off walk, moved to second on a Mize groundout, and then scored on a double by Olson for a 1-0 lead. Olson would move to third on a fly ball from Duttweiler but was stranded at third.
The Hurricanes would tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth. They would load the bases on a hit and two walks and Linn would score on a sacrifice fly to right by Jamieson.
North Hall looked poised to retake the lead in the top of the seventh when Olson reached on an error to start the inning. He initially was awarded second on a balk call, but it was overturned. He was erased on a fielder's choice and then Kelly singled to center. But Rutledge got out of the jam striking out Corbin Lewallen and getting Murray to pop to second.
Cartersville then got the break it was looking for when Benefield reached second on an error and then moved to third on a sacrifice fly. The Trojans walked Justus and Jamieson ripped the second pitch he saw to center scoring Benefield to win the game and the series.
Duttweiler went 6 1/3 innings allowing just two hits and striking out five. Three of his five walks were intentional.
"Colton was outstanding," Mongero said. "That was the Duttweiler we've watched the last couple of years. He pitched well enough to win."
Sunday
May 19th, 2024
5:57PM
