By JUSTIN LAMB/jlamb@c-dh.net
Read Story from The Columbia Daily Herald
SUMMERTOWN — There will be a new Class A State Baseball champion.
Reigning state champion Summertown was denied a chance to defend its crown after falling 6-3 to Nashville Christian in the Sectionals Friday.
“It’s an honor to be able to defeat a team like this,” said Nashville Christian coach Ben Williams. “We tell our guys if you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best and I can’t say enough about our guys.”
In denying Summertown (32-5) its third straight state tournament appearance, NCS will be making its Spring Fling baseball debut. Nashville Christian will open play in the state tournament Tuesday in Murfreesboro.
“Making it to the tournament is a first for our school,” Williams said. “We are going to enjoy it and try to keep moving on.”
The foundation for Nashville Christian’s upset win was laid in the first inning when Davis Fleming blasted a two-run home run to give NCS a 2-0 lead.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” Williams said. “We wanted to come in and show that we weren’t afraid.”
Summertown trimmed its deficit to 2-1 in the third inning when Jordan Chard scored on an errant throw.
An inning later, Summertown took its only lead of the game when Ben Lyons blasted a two-run home run to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.
However, the lead was short-lived as Nashville Christian tied game in the fifth inning as Brooks Taylor scored on a perfectly place bunt by Jamie Edwards.
“That’s something we work on everyday,” Williams said. “There was no question in my mind, we’ve done it over and over again. It was just a matter of execution.”
NCS took the lead for good in the seventh inning on an RBI single from Taylor. Four batters later, Joe Whelan, who had struck out in his last two at bats, plated two insurance runs by ripping a double to rightcenter field.
“I was thinking about pinch hitting (for Whelan) and he got up there and I decided to leave him,” Williams said. “He came up with a big hit and hits it to the gap and pretty much seals the deal.”
The three-run lead was more than enough for Cody Hartley, who capped off his complete game win by retiring Summertown in order in the seventh inning.
Hartley allowed three runs — one earned — on just three hits with six strikeouts and a walk.
“It’s been him all year that has put the team on his shoulders and carried us,” Williams said. “This is just another example of how good, how talented and how special of a kid he is.”
Taylor (3 runs, RBI) and Fleming (2 runs, 2 RBIs) both had two hits to lead Nashville Christian.
Alex Huddleston, Blake Gray and Lyons (2 RBI) had the lone hits for Summertown, while Thomas Huddleston took the complete game loss giving up six runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts and five walks.
Story created May 22, 2010 – 01:17:09 EDT.
