The Nation Ford Falcons baseball team rallied, but failed to complete the comeback falling out of the 5A playoffs to the Easley Green Wave.
Nation Ford lost 6-4 in game three of the series playing the second half of the game on Friday, May 9 after the game was suspended Thursday, May 8 because of torrential rains.
On Thursday, Easley came out aggressive at the plate. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Easley with one out in the top of the first. A hit batter led to the Green Wave’s first run and then a walk put them up 2-0 before a pitching change for Nation Ford. Carter Czapla came in and got out of the inning without allowing another run.
Nation Ford got one base runner on in the bottom of the inning with a single from Simon Fernandez, who led the Falcons at the plate going 2-4 with a couple RBIs.
The Falcons’ Blake Chatman singled to start the bottom of the second inning. An error got Jacob Neff on base and a groundout by Lawson Smith scored courtesy runner Grey Kneidel to cut the lead in half.
Easley got a base runner on after getting hit by a pitch to start the third inning. Czapla walked another Green Wave batter putting runners on the corners. Easley drove in their third run with an out. Czapla walked another batter before the Falcons went to the bullpen again bringing in Carter Powell. He was able to get out of the inning without allowing another run as Easley led 3-1.
Alex Smith led the bottom of the inning off with a single. A wild pitch got him to second and then a fielder’s choice pushed Smith to third. Fernandez then singled in Smith and Cooper Mitchell scored on a throw to tie the game. Chatman then got hit by a pitch. Soon afterwards, the lightning detector went off throwing the game into a weather delay.
Nation Ford came back about 22 hours later to finish the third inning without scoring.
Easley led the top of the fourth off with a single and then got a walk to put two on with one out. An infield single loaded the bases for the Green Wave. A walk put Easley up 4-3 and then a passed ball extended their lead with two outs. Another Nation Ford error, scored a run and a walk kept the bases loaded.
The Falcons went to the bullpen bringing in Ryan Dyer, who was able to get out of the inning without allowing another Green Wave run.
The Falcons kept things moving with a double by Mitchell in the fifth. A ground out by Justin Brink scored Mitchell to get one back for the Falcons to put the score at 6-4.
In the sixth inning, Carson Krueger doubled to get things started for Nation Ford with two outs. Kruger nearly scored, but a force out at first base ended the inning.
The Falcons’ Smith got hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the seventh. An Easley error put two runners on with no outs. However, Nation Ford failed to score ending the game with a runner on third base.
The Falcons finished the season at 13-16.
May 9 Roundup
The Nation Ford softball team beat TL Hanna on the road 4-1 to stay alive in the playoffs. Jamison Noonan and Paizlei Ross combined for a one-hitter. Jackie Knol led at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI. Nation Ford improved to 16-9 overall.
The Fort Mill softball team was knocked out of the playoffs with a 5-0 loss to Indian Land. Fort Mill got just three hits in the game, two of them by Elise Nordgren as the Jackets finished with an 8-12 record.
The Nation Ford girls’ soccer team breezed through the first round of the 5A playoffs beating Greenwood 6-0. The Falcons improved to 20-2-1 overall.
The Fort Mill girls’ soccer team lost 1-0 in overtime to Eastside. The Lady Jackets ended the season at 9-8 overall.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
