Justin Fitzgerald/sports@cherokeescout.com Murphy’s Braden Rumfelt jogs to first base after drawing a walk in the Bulldogs’ 3-1 win over Hiwassee Dam on June 11. Murphy’s season ended Thursday with an 11-3 loss to Uwharrie Charter in the second round of the 1A state playoffs.
Murphy – The Bulldogs’ baseball season is over after a short run in this year’s N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A playoffs.
After winning at Starmount High School in the first round, 13-10, Murphy fell on the road at Uwharrie Charter Academy in the second round, 11-3. The Bulldogs finishes the 2021 season 13-3 overall, and in second place in the Smoky Mountain Conference with a 12-2 record.
In the win over the Rams, Murphy led 7-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but Starmount answered with three in the bottom of the fifth and two in the bottom of the sixth. The Bulldogs responded with a six-run seventh and held on for a 13-10 win.
It was Murphy’s first win since beating West Columbus to win the 2018 1A state championship.
“After our Hayesville game last week and how they came back, it just kind of lit a fire in our guys,” Murphy head coach Adam Clonts said. “When we got down on the scoreboard, we didn’t get down as a team. We picked each other up and kept playing hard.”
The win however, came at a cost. Junior first baseman/pitcher Briggs Cornwell tweaked his hamstring, and didn’t play against Uwharrie. On the first at-bat against the Eagles, Payton McCracken aggravated an already bad back, and had to leave the game.
Though Murphy welcomed back Kellen Rumfelt at the plate for the playoffs, losing two starters was too much to overcome. It didn’t help that the Eagles won their first-round game against Chatham Charter 11-0 in five innings, while the Bulldogs fought a seven-inning battle.
In 2016-18, Murphy knocked Uwharrie out of the playoffs, each time winning 6-5 in extra innings. In this game the Eagles were victorious, 11-3.
“We knew they were going to be a tough team because they’re known for baseball,” Clonts said. “They had a lot of speed in our lineup, we walked some guys that they took advantage of.”
The loss ended a weird but still successful year for Murphy. It took a while for the Bulldogs to get back into a rhythm, with multiple players going straight from winning a football state championship. Murphy won eight straight games after losing to Hayesville, then lost to the Yellow Jackets again 6-5 on June 8 to finish second in the conference.
The Bulldogs will graduate four key seniors in Caleb Allen, Hunter Curtis, Dawson Hensley and Jesse Kephart. Allen (.380, 12 RBI) and Kephart (.327, 9 RBI) hit in the top of the lineup in every game this season, Hensley (.500, 2 HR, 23 RBI, 5.04 ERA, 32 strikeouts in 16⅔ innings) was a force both in the field and on the mound, while Curtis (4.01 ERA in 22⅔ innings pitched) compiled the second-most innings of anyone on the team.
They’ll be tough to replace, but Clonts is optimistic about next season. With a hopefully normal high school sports schedule and a strong group of juniors returning, Murphy should once again be one of the top teams in the conference.
“We got a lot of returning players, a lot of key returning players and a lot of good players who didn’t get a lot of playing time this year due to the fact that we had so many seniors and whatnot,” Clonts said. “But these younger guys will step up and fill those holes the best they can, and we’ll have a real strong team next season.”