Reed, Brown shine in Shady comeback

Apr. 26—The week wasn't exactly trending in a positive direction for Shady Spring.

It started with a 26-13 win over Oak Hill, which sounds positive at first. But the Tigers committed seven errors that allowed the Red Devils to score all 13 runs over the final four innings.

Then there was Tuesday, when an error aided Greenbrier East's game-winning run in a 3-2, 10-inning marathon.

And then in Wednesday's sectional rivalry at Independence, a pair of errors helped the Patriots take a 6-1 lead after the fourth inning.

But somewhere around there came the pivot the Tigers needed.

Shady tied the game in the sixth, got a go-ahead hit from Tyler Reed in the top of the seventh and a potential rally-killing defensive play from Parker Brown in the bottom half.

The result was a 7-6 victory that allowed the Tigers to remain unbeaten against sectional opponents.

"I told them before the game, it's a sectional rival, all the history the last couple of years with Atticus (Goodson) and (Mike) McKinney and all those guys," Shady coach Jordan Meadows said.

"We came out pretty dead early, made a couple of bonehead errors, and I told the guys to just keep chipping away."

The Tigers scored a single run in the fourth and two in the fifth off starter Brayden Kiblinger. It was in the sixth that they were finally able to catch up.

Kiblinger walked Aiden Calvert and hit Cash McCall to start the inning and was lifted for J.D. Monroe. He was greeted by pinch-hitter Carter Pack, who lined a pitch to left to scored Calvert. The ball got past the left fielder, allowing McCall to score from first and make it a one-run game.

Jacob Meadows and Cam Manns singled back-to-back, Manns' hit driving in Pack to tie it at 6-6. Adam Richmond then walked to load the bases with nobody out.

But Monroe struck out Brown and got Brody Seabolt to line into a double play to end the inning.

That eventually set the stage for Reed's clutch hit in the seventh.

Colton Tate reached on an error to start it off, stole second and went to third when the throw made its way to the outfield.

Monroe looked to be getting his way out of it with consecutive strikeouts. But Reed — the batter for whom Pack pinch-hit in the sixth — re-entered and lined the first pitch he saw from Monroe to the gap in right-center to drive Tate and give Shady its only lead of the game.

"Right before that I pinch-hit for him because he was 0-for-2 with two goofy strikeouts," Meadows said. "He stepped up, two outs, gets the shot and that's a senior leader. He's done a lot of good stuff for us and he's going to continue to do so."

The Patriots had the middle of their lineup going in the bottom half, and it started as expected with cleanup hitter Cole Cunningham lacing a single to center.

Orion Wills then lifted a fly ball to right field that was drifting toward the line. Brown came chasing after it and made a diving catch for the first out.

"It came off the bat and I knew it was headed foul," said Brown, another senior. "I might have got a late jump; I'm not the quickest kid out there. So, the diving, I had to compensate a little bit. But, yeah, obviously made a pretty good play right there, saved the runner from advancing."

Brown is a player Meadows said has earned his way onto the field.

"He sat the bench for three years, watched the older guys — Josh Lovell, (Tyler) Mackey," Meadows said. "He earned it. He's batting in the four hole and leads the team in RBIs. Just a hundred percent effort to help his team out and that's all you can ask for."

"We had our heads down. Coach gave us a little talk and we got out of the gutter a little bit," Brown said of the early struggles. "We just started battling, chipped away, got it to 6-3 and then our heads were up a little bit."

Everything went the Patriots' way before then. They scored three runs in the first, two of them unearned thanks to two Shady errors, and added another in the second on an RBI single by James Williams.

They went up 6-1 in the fourth on a run-scoring double by Monroe and RBI single by Cunningham.

"I thought Kibbie (Kiblinger) pitched real good early, but against a good team you can't keep giving them extra (chances)," said Patriots coach Scott Cuthbert, whose team committed seven errors.

"The error, what that does is it's one more time you get closer to the top. When you get a good team down, you've got to try to hold them down. I knew we weren't out of the water, by far, until the game would have been over."Jacob Meadows relieved starting pitcher Tate and got the win. He struck out six and walked one and allowed four hits and one run over 3.2 innings.

Clay Basham was 4-for-4 for Independence, which will host Greater Beckley Christian Thursday at 5:30 p.m. on Senior Night. Shady will go to PikeView for a 5 p.m. game.

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