After an unbeaten, unscored-upon three-day stretch in the District 2-3A Tournament, all Greeneville coach Andy Collins wanted on Saturday afternoon was a few more innings with his guys.
Saturday’s district championship game at Tusculum University was cut short due to heavy rain, but not before the Greene Devils laid claim to a 4-0 win over Grainger. It marked the 14th consecutive time Greeneville brought home the district championship plaque.
“I’m glad we won a championship, but I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to play seven innings. We’ve only played one seven-inning game in district play, and I wish we could have finished today,” Greeneville coach Andy Collins said. “But we got out to a good start with offense, and then defensively we made some really good plays, Kaine Ricker was outstanding. As a coach that is what I worry about, defense and pitching, and that was really good this week.”
Greeneville now moves on the Region 1-3A Tournament which is scheduled to begin on Friday, hosted by the District 1-3A champion. Elizabethton and Unicoi County will play for the District 1-3A championship on Sunday.
“We just have to keep making the routine plays and getting gap-to-gap hitting,” Collins said. “We need to keep our arms fresh. We have played a lot of good teams throughout this year, so another key is making sure these guys get some rest to make sure they are gung ho and ready to go.”
Pitching and defense were the difference for the Greene Devils this week. On Thursday it was Carson Quillen who was in full control, on Friday Will Harmon dominated Cherokee, and on Saturday Randen Fillers shut down the Grizzlies.
While those arms had batters baffled, Collins was quick to credit the other end of the battery for keeping the Greene Devils in control all tournament long. Senior Noah Murray, who has become a fixture behind the plate over the last four years, caught all three games and made sure his arms were making the right deliveries to win each at bat.
“When we start talking about pitching and what they did, Noah plays a big part in that,” Collins said. “He and I are on the same page, we’re talking throughout the game, and it’s always good baseball conversation. Then, I think for the tournament he was 2-for-3 with a couple of walks and four RBI’s while catching three games. I’m very proud of him.”
Fillers finished Saturday’s five-inning contest with eight strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed.
On offense it was a pair of big hits early that put the Greene Devils in control. In the bottom of the first inning leadoff hitter Carson Quillen blasted a Cristian Ramirez delivery into the deepest part of the left-center gap for a triple.
“The big thing for us is to start early, get the first out, the first hit, the first big play,” Quillen said. “On that at bat I got ahead 2-0. I’m trying to get in those plus counts so I can be selective as a hitter. I saw a pitch I liked and attacked it.”
Three pitches later the Devils were in the lead when Carson Norris sent a ground ball to third that was mishandled.
Harmon came up with another big swing, this time from the other batter’s box. He pulled a line drive down the right field line and as the ball rolled into the corner it gave Harmon time to reach third standing up for an RBI triple.
Over the next two innings on defense Fillers collected six strikeouts, and then Greeneville’s lead grew to 3-0 in the bottom of the third.
Maddox Bishop fired a single left field before stealing both second and third. Murray sent a fly ball deep into left field to score Bishop on a sacrifice.
In the fourth Grayson Crosby reached on a single that split the right-center gap. Sacrifice bunts from Kaine Ricker and Jeriah Griffin then put pinch runner Silar Lewis on third. Lewis scored the day’s fourth run when Norris hit a slow chopper to the shortstop that he beat out before a throw could be made.
In the top of the fifth inning the rain got harder and defense became more difficult. The Grizzlies put two on the base path, but the game ended on a groundout to Quillen at shortstop.
Quillen was named the tournament’s MVP. Over three games he was 5-for-10 at the plate with two doubles, a triple and a home run.
On Saturday he was 1-for-2 with a triple. Norris went 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Harmon had an RBI triple, and Murray was 0-for-0 with an RBI.
