GRANVILLE, W.Va. — When Spring Mills pitcher Brandon Montgomery found himself in trouble Saturday against University, he found his way out of it.
Eventually, Montgomery got to a point where his rhythm and ability to throw strikes prevented any trouble, and the Cardinals scored four runs in the fifth to open a comfortable lead in their 10-1 victory against the Hawks at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
Spring Mills (7-15) played University (10-12) within an hour of suffering a loss across town to Wheeling Park at Dale Miller Field. Montgomery’s performance enabled them to refocus, as did patience at the plate that helped result in the Cardinals drawing 10 walks in the win.
“We talk about adversity, and we were just kind of going to throw and go, and see what happens,” Spring Mills head coach Bradley Barrett said. “It’s beautiful out here, a great complex and our guys were excited. This is a great win for us.”
After a one-out double from Montgomery in the top of the second inning, the Cardinals produced the game’s first run on a UHS error.
The Hawks’ Riley Anderson was caught stealing third base to end the home half of the second, and SMHS added to its lead in the third on a two-out, run-scoring single to shortstop off the bat of Aiden Eichelberger.
UHS drew consecutive walks to start the third, but just as it appeared Montgomery was perhaps losing control of the strike zone, he inducted three straight fly ball outs and kept the Hawks from scoring.
“Our approach wasn’t great tonight,” UHS head coach Brad Comport said. “Obviously credit their pitcher and he threw a ton of strikes, but we did nothing to put any pressure on their defense and when did have runners in scoring position, we didn’t capitalize.”
In the fourth, Spring Mills got a two-out, two-run single from Rylan Swartz after a University error an at bat earlier prolonged the inning.
The Hawks cut their deficit to 4-1 in the home half of the fourth on a Colson Jenkins sacrifice fly to right, which allowed Mason Chaney to score from third.
Any momentum from scoring was short-lived for the Hawks.
In the fifth, the Cardinals got a run-scoring single from Bradley Butts for their fifth run, then added three more in the frame on Wysocki’s bases loaded walk, a JP Sweeney infield single and a sacrifice fly from Swartz as part of a four-run fifth that allowed them to lead, 8-1.
“These guys are resilient and we talk about it all the time,” Barrett said. “Have to clear your head and we had to play in 30 minutes, so had to figure it out.”
Montgomery would go on to face 10 batters over the final three innings, surrounding a single to Mason McDonald in the fifth, as well as one to Max Cash in the sixth, though he was thrown out at second attempting to stretch it into a double.
“It’s a game of momentum and we didn’t execute with runners in scoring position early on,” Comport said. “They did and they capitalized on their opportunities and ultimately, we weren’t able to make it a game.”
In the seventh, Eichelberger had his second run-scoring single and the Cardianls tacked on their 10th and final run courtesy of a wild pitch.
Montgomery allowed just the two singles in what amounted to a dominant showing.
“We have a young team with two seniors and he is our rock,” Barrett said. “He’s our guy and our big leader. He went out there and did his job.”
McDonald, the first of three Hawks’ pitchers utilized, suffered the loss.