The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets took game one in their series against the Nation Ford Falcons with a 6-4 win scoring two runs in the top of the seventh.
Fort Mill jumped out to an early start. Josh Patterson walked and then an error pushed him to second. Carter Blankinship singled driving Patterson in to put the Jackets up 1-0 in the top of the first inning.
Nation Ford tied it up in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Justin Brink scoring Alex Smith, who walked to open the bottom half for the Falcons.
In the second inning, Cooper Diehl tripled for Fort Mill. A second Falcons error allowed the Jackets to take the lead.
Braden Richardson, who reached on an error, scored on a wild pitch. Fort Mill put two runners on later in the inning off walks, but they were both stranded to end the inning.
The Falcons kept chipping away scoring a run in the third inning. Smith walked again and scored on a sacrifice fly by Simon Fernandez to pull within one at 3-2.
In the top of the fourth, Diehl singled to start off the inning. Jacob Pettit singled with two outs to push Diehl across to score.
In the bottom of the fifth, Smith reached on an error. Fernandez singled and Smith scored on an error. Brink reached on another Jackets error tying the game at four.
Nation Ford’s starter Ben Chuttey went five innings allowed four runs in four hits, while walking three and striking out six. He didn’t get the decision as he was replaced by Carter Powell on the mound in the sixth inning.
In the seventh inning, John Coppola walked to start things for Fort Mill and then reached second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch. He would score on Nation Ford’s third error to put the Jackets ahead. Blankinship also scored later in the inning on a passed ball after he was intentionally walked.
Fort Mill starter Kody Romero would go six innings and allowed four runs on two hits. He walked four and struck out five. Sullivan Townley got the save for Fort Mill pitching the seventh inning.
Fort Mill improved to 12-4 in Region 3-5A and 18-5 overall, while Nation Ford dropped to 11-13 overall and 7-9 in the region.
April 28 Roundup
The Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse team beat TL Hanna in the Upper State Championship 18-8 and will be playing in the 5A Division II state championship on Saturday, May 3. Fort Mill improved to 9-7 on the season and will play Lucy Beckham, which won the Lower State title 21-2 over Socastee.
The Catawba Ridge softball team improved to 22-0 on the season rallying past South Florence on the road to win 6-4 in 10 innings. Jaidyn Harris led the Copperheads going 3-5 at the plate with an RBI.
The Catawba Ridge baseball team improved to 16-7-1 with a 9-0 shutout win over Clover. Bryce Meil went 2-3 with two RBIs to lead the Copperheads at the plate. Catawba Ridge improved to 11-5 in Region 3-5A.
The Catawba Ridge golf team is in fourth place at the Swamp Fox tournament with a 322. Niam Sethi led with a 77, followed by Carter Mitten with a 79. Muller Otto and Bray Vining finished with an 83.
The Nation Ford golf team beat Rock Hill and Cuthbertson in a tri-match. The Falcons shot a 158 and was led by a 34 from Harrison LaPointe. Justin Wosje finished with a 39 for the Falcons and Cameron Allen shot a 42. Tyler Kemmerlin finished a 43 for Nation Ford.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
