Mount Airy took care of business by defeating Highland Tech 8-0 on May 10.
The Granite Bears allowed just two hits while racking up 10 in the shutout. The victory sent Mount Airy to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons.
“That’s how the No. 1-ranked team is supposed to win,” said Mount Airy coach Josh Wilson. “That’s a pretty good baseball team with some pretty good wins under their belt, so for us to hold them scoreless says a lot about our guys.
“I just couldn't be prouder of them."
Kamden Hawks earned the win on the mound for Mount Airy. The senior Morehead State University-commit struck out 11 batters and only allowed two hits in 6 2/3 innings pitched. Hawks hit his pitch count with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, so teammate Landon Gallimore took over and ended the game four pitches later.
Rylan Venable, Cameryn Wilson and Camdyn Easter each recorded two hits for the Bears, while four players finished with one hit each: Hawks, Landon Cox, Ian Gallimore and Landon Gallimore.
Venable, Easter and Ian Gallimore each scored multiple runs for Mount Airy, led by Venable’s three, and Fletcher Gallimore added one run.
Mount Airy improved to 23-1 with Friday’s second-round playoff win against No. 17 Highland Tech. The Bears haven’t lost since dropping their season opener 2-1 in an extra-inning game against West Wilkes on Feb. 29.
“They're as dialed in right now as I've ever seen them,” Coach Wilson said. “I told them to be here at 4:15, but I was in the cage and had guys showing up at 3:45 to get swings in. Every kid on the team is focused. To win 23 games when you haven’t always played perfect, you’ve had to fight through some adversity, and had to work through some things is impressive. It takes a collective effort from all of them and that’s exactly what’s happening. There’s no easy out right now.”
Coach Wilson said Friday’s when was especially refreshing after Mount Airy struggled at times during their first-round game against Langtree Charter. The Granite Bears took a 6-1 lead in that game, but allowed the No. 32-seeded Lions to come back and cut the game to one run.
“That’s one of those trap games we talked about early on,” Coach Wilson said. “We played like we were supposed to for two innings, then we popped up some balls, didn't have good at bats and just let them hang around. We let them have a little bit of life and they made a run at us. We came back offensively and made a big push to get it out of reach there.
“I'm not saying we played terrible, we just didn't play like we knew we were capable of. We didn't play how we played tonight.”
Mount Airy delivered a strong start against Highland Tech to set the tone for the playoff victory. The Bears ended the top of the first inning with a double play, then used a bunt error hit by Cameryn Wilson to score two runs in the inning’s bottom half.
Highland Tech (12-13) had its best chance to score in the top of the second inning. Hawks struck the first two batters out, then a fielding error and single allowed the visitors to put a runner in scoring position. Hawks promptly ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Rams’ only other appearance in scoring position came in the top of the fourth inning. The inning opened with an infield flyout, then Cash Hemric made a diving catch in center field. A walk and a single put runners on the corners, but the inning ended when Easter made a highlight catch of his own.
“We were clean tonight and made some excellent plays in the outfield,” Coach Wilson said. “Cash dove and took away a hit, then Easter runs back and takes away probably a double that could’ve scored two runs. If they don’t make those plays then all of a sudden it’s a 4-2 game.
The Granite Bears have pushed to become a more consistent team at the plate all season. Against Highland Tech, Mount Airy scored two runs in four different innings and put at least one runner on base in all but one inning.
Venable led off with a double in the second inning before being scored on a single from Cameryn Wilson. Wilson later scored on a single from Cox. History nearly repeated itself in the fourth inning when Easter doubled, Venable scored Easter with a single then Hawks scored Venable.
Wilson and Ian Gallimore each hit an RBI in the sixth inning.
“I think our defense and pitching are going to hold people down for the most part. If we do that and can score one run an inning we’ll be hard to beat,” Coach Wilson said. Mount Airy is averaging 8.3 runs scored and 1.8 runs allowed across 24 games.
Mount Airy will host No. 9 Thomasville in the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs (13-11) finished third overall and first among 1A teams in the Central Carolina 1A/2A Conference.
Thomasville defeated No. 24 Robbinsville 1-0 in the opening round and No. 25 Leadership Academy 9-2 in the second round.
Mount Airy and Thomasville had two common opponents this season: Starmount and East Wilkes. Mount Airy defeated East Wilkes twice this season, 8-1 and 13-3, and Thomasville lost to East Wilkes 10-0 in their only meeting. Mount Airy defeated Starmount three times by scores of 8-3, 20-12 and 10-0, and Thomasville lost two games to Starmount 9-6 and 11-1.
The winner of Mount Airy and Thomasville will face the winner of No. 4 Cherryville (18-9) and No. 5 Draughn (19-4).
Pitching
Highland Tech
Erwing Soza — 3 2/3 IP, 3K, 0 BB, 3 HBP, 8H, 6R
Tanner Lewis — 2 1/3 IP, 4K, 0 BB, 0 HBP, 3H, 2R
Mount Airy
Kamden Hawks — 6 2/3 IP, 11K, 3 BB, 0 HBP, 2H, 0R
Landon Gallimore — 1/3 IP, 1K, 0 BB, 0 HBP, 0H, 0R
Scoring
(17) Highland Tech — 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 — 0
(1) Mount Airy — 2, 0, 2, 2, 0, 2, X — 8
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