There is something to be said about simply putting the ball in play. You never know what might happen. Case in point is what took place this past Monday in Quitman’s 8-3 victory over parish and district 1B rival Weston, which clinched the Wolverines at least a tie for the district championship. 

After Weston scored three in the top half of the inning to take a 3-2 lead, Quitman took advantage of four Weston errors, two wild pitches, two free passes and a passed ball to score six in the bottom half to put the game away, that saw 9 of the total 11 runs scored in the fifth inning. 

The decisive frame started with Riley Duck drawing a walk and then advancing to third on a passed ball and wild pitch. Ian Tilley followed with a ground ball single to knot the score at 3-3 and went to second on another wild pitch. Hudson Pullig got hit by a pitch and Kace West grounded into a fielders choice that forced Tilley out at third but a throwing error allowed Pullig and West to advance a base.

The heads up running paid immediate dividends as John Reagan Hasley hit a clutch single to give Quitman a 4-3 lead and then took second with no throw. Once again Weston hurt their cause when Pete Simonelli hit a grounder to the pitcher who attempted to get West out at the plate but the ball got away. Hasley came all the way around from second to score as well to up the lead to 6-3 with Simonelli going to second. Logan Ponder followed with an infield single and again good baserunning led to a run as Simonelli scored on an errant throw to the plate allowing Ponder to move up to second. Cam Deal then reached on grounder to third that was misplayed setting up a Blake Carter single for the 8th run and 6th of the inning. There is something to be said about putting the ball in play. 

Quitman took a 1-0 lead on back to back singles by Ponder and Deal setting up a Riley Duck RBI single with two outs. The lead went to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Hasley walked and Simonelli reached on a fly ball to right that fell for an error, one of five miscues the Wolves made on defense in the contest. Ponder walked to load the bases  and Deal drove in Hasley by making contact and hitting a sacrifice fly. 

To the Wolves credit they immediately rallied in their next at bat when Colton Blundell hit a one out single, Bryce Zehr and Tait Henderson walked and Cole Tolar stroked a single to left scoring two. After a balk moved the runners up a base Cooper Delaney hit a sac fly to give Weston the lead. 

Blake Carter was the benefactor of the big inning to gain the win after five innings of work. Ponder pitched the final two innings striking out five. Delaney also pitched well for Weston, giving up only one earned run before leaving after four innings. Both Drew Browning for Weston and Carter for Quitman hit doubles in the contest. 

The two will square off again on Wednesday, March 29th at the JPRD where either Quitman will win district with an undefeated record or Weston, which now sits one game back, will tie for the title.  

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Weston (10-11, 2-1)	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	7	5
Quitman (7-10, 3-0)	1	0	0	1	6	0	x	8	10	0

Lady Wolverines rally falls short at Cedar Creek

Quitman had the tying run on base in both the sixth and seventh inning but rallies from 5-1 and 7-3 deficits fell short as Cedar Creek saddled Cali Deal with her first loss of the season in the 9-8 victory.

The first loss after 14 straight wins offset an otherwise brilliant day at the plate for Deal who torched Cedar Creek pitching for two home runs, a triple, three RBI and three runs scored. Maddie Kaye “Big Bopper” Brymer also had a great day at the plate by going 2/4 with a home run, driving in four and scoring a run. Madison Chaplin scored twice and Maggie Guyotte drew two walks and got a hit. Hallie Kate Pullig also hit a double but with Furr and Lee getting three hits each and Smith hitting a home run, Quitman fell for the first time after 20 wins in a row. Cedar Creek, ranked 5th in Division IV among “select” schools improved to 12-9 on the year. 

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Quitman (21-5)	1	0	2	4	0	1	0	8	11	3
Cedar Creek (12-9)	2	3	2	2	0	0	x	9	13	1

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