Lafayette mercy-rules Pontotoc to kick off series
OXFORD – Lafayette kept finding ways to keep the runs pouring in during the second inning.
The Commodores posted nine runs in the frame and cruised to a 12-2 win in six innings in the first game of their series against Pontotoc on Thursday night in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
The series is scheduled to head to Pontotoc for the second game on Saturday.
“You get a win, you get an early exit, that’s always a good thing,” Lafayette head coach John Walker said. “We kind of felt like the game got a little longer than we wanted it to. We had to go to the bullpen in a game where we were up 10 runs at one point, and we don’t ever really want to do that. …
"But getting the win and getting it in the fashion where we scored some runs and had some good at-bats, particularly early, you feel good about it.”
Lafayette (23-7) scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first with a bases-loaded walk, but the Commodores turned it on in the second. A Houston Morgan bunt turned into two runs on an errant throw to first, and Balin Bishop drove in another on a single. Connor Counts then broke the game open with a two-RBI double to make it 6-0.
Walks and errors fueled the Commodores’ biggest inning, and Lafayette led 10-0 through two.
“We were being more patient than the last couple of weeks when we’ve been messing up on breaking balls,” Counts said. “Just sit back on the off-speed and get the fastball if you can.”
Pontotoc (15-13) held Lafayette off the scoreboard for the next couple of innings and brought home two runs in the top of the fourth. But Lafayette scored a run in the fifth and completed the mercy-rule win with another bases-loaded walk in the sixth.
Pontotoc head coach Josh Dowdy didn’t mince words about his team’s performance Thursday night.
“Tonight, I don’t know if the Pontotoc Warriors could have beat the Pontotoc Junior High Warriors,” he said. “We walked 12, made four or five errors. The second inning got us, kind of got away from us there a little bit. I think we walked eight (by the end of) the second inning and made four errors.”
Extra Bases
Big Inning: Lafayette batted around in the second inning before Pontotoc even recorded an out, and the Commodores scored nine runs.
Big Stat: Lafayette drew double-digit walks.
Coach Speak: “We’re a team that can win a state championship. … We’re good enough to do it, and we’re playing very well. We’ve just got to continue to stay focused.” – Walker
