GAINESVILLE, Ga. – One game was easy and one was hard, but it all added up to the North Hall baseball team earning a trip to the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Trojans beat Heritage 10-0 and 6-4 to sweep the series at Cottrell Field.
“It was a team effort for sure,” North Hall’s Branson Crawford said. “Our guys brought the energy, and we came out on top.”
The Trojans will host cross-county rival Cherokee Bluff on Wednesday at Lynn Cottrell Field. It'll be the first meeting of the 2025 season between the two rivals. Bluff beat Northwest Whitfield to advance.
Crawford had a big night for the Trojans (26-6), who extended their winning streak to nine games.
“I think (Branson) missing half the season, he is just getting into his midseason form,” North Hall Coach Trevor Flow. “He’s an outstanding baseball player and so versatile.”
Crawford had five hits, including two home runs, pitched five shutout innings, and threw out a potential game-tying runner at the plate in the doubleheader.
In Game 1, the Trojans backed Crawford’s pitching with 15 hits. Nine of 10 players who batted got hits.
“They saw the ball really well,” Flow said. “We had some pop flies, but I thought we did not try to do too much. When those guys just get up there and are not trying to do too much, we are pretty good at the plate all the way around.”
Crawford was 3-for-4 with a homer, and Smith McGarvey drove in three runs with a double and triple.
Ty Kemp had two hits, Custis Honeycutt hit a two-run homer, Thomas Davis had two hits and drove in two runs, Campbell Payton added two hits, and Kenny Foundy doubled in a run.
Crawford pitched 4 1/3 no-hit innings before allowing two hits in the fifth. Leading 3-0, North Hall scored four runs in the fourth inning on Crawford’s and Huneycutt’s homers and a double steal. Davis ended the game with a two-run double in the sixth.
The shutout in Game 1 was the Trojans' third straight in the playoffs.
In the second game, the Trojans raced out to a 4-0 lead before the Generals (19-14) battled back to tie the game in the fifth. The Trojans steadied themselves. They retook the lead in the sixth on Kemp’s groundout, and McGarvey drove in an insurance run on a fielder’s choice in the seventh.
North Hall relievers did their part. Campbell Payton struck out Brody James with tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in the sixth. Mills Lothridge came on in relief with one out in the seventh and the tying runs on base. He struck out Hunter Zanatay and got Maddox Henry, who had homered earlier, to fly out.
“We got Campbell in the first game, and he threw really well,” Flow said. “We limited his pitch count, thankfully, because we need him in the second game. Mills came in and did what he’s done all year and got the save.”
