Sylva – Leading 4-3 after four innings, the Bulldogs were searching for some separation in the season opener at Smoky Mountain on Friday.
They got one run in the fifth inning and had runners on second and third with nobody out, but couldn’t push anymore across. Then in the sixth inning, Braden Rumfelt thought he scored but was called out due to batters’ interference to end the top half of the inning.
In the seventh inning, it finally came together. Murphy scored four times, then shut down the Mustangs in the bottom of the inning for a 9-3 win.
“Our bats got hot early had a little lull and picked them up there late in the game,” head coach Adam Clonts said. “That’s what we got to do. Every inning’s not going to be a big inning. We’re going to have some big innings here and there and we have to capitalize when we have the opportunity to score those runs.”
The Bulldogs return a lot from last year’s team that finished second in the Smoky Mountain Conference and lost in the second round of the playoffs. The top five hitters in the lineup against Smoky Mountain (1-1) were all returners, and Payton McCracken will miss the early part of the season with a lower leg injury but will be back soon. Along with Rumfelt and McCracken, Clonts is also expecting Briggs Cornwell and Joe Swain to be senior leaders.
They only lost four seniors from last year’s team, but they were all solid contributors. There were four new hitters (Isaiah Temple, Dominick Rummler, John Ledford and Ty Laney) at the bottom of the lineup, and Will Carringer and Rumfelt were playing shortstop and second base after playing second base and right field last year.
“Try to put things together and get the best lineup possible, the most productive lineup possible is our goal,” Clonts said. “We’ll change some things but we’re off to a good start.”
Ledford got Murphy on the board in the top of the second with a two-run single. The Bulldogs would add two more in the inning thanks to some Smoky Mountain mistakes. The Mustangs would add three more in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of some sloppy play from Murphy.
Pitcher Isaac Cole struck out three batters in the inning, but two reached base. Carson Seagraves led off the bottom of the second by reaching on a dropped
third strike, then made it to third on a Clayton Dillard ground out. Parker Wilson followed with a walk, then stole second and Seagraves scored.
Max Buchanan would reach on an infield single, and after he was called safe, Cornwell made a throw to try to get Wilson at third but it was offline and he scored. Buchanan would later score on a wild pitch.
After two innings from Cole, Cole Laney entered in the third and kept Smoky Mountain at bay. He threw three scoreless innings, including working out of a runners on second and third, one-out jam in the bottom of the fourth.
“Expecting big things out of Cole this year,” Clonts said, “especially on the mound.”
Murphy would score in the top of the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Isaiah Temple, who made it to second on the throw. With runners on second and third, Dillard struck out one batter before a new pitcher struck out two more to get out of the jam.
After threatening in the sixth, the Bulldogs broke the game open in the top of the seventh. Cole led off with a single, then Rummler singled and Ledford walked to load the bases with one out.
Cole would score on a Ty Laney fielders’ choice and Rummler would score on a wild pitch. Carringer would reach on an infield single, then both Laney and Carringer scored on a two-run poke by Rumfelt.
“We lost some key players from last year’s team,” Clonts said. “We didn’t lose many, but they were all key players. So coming in this year we kind of had an idea, (but) we really didn’t know what to expect. We started off with a good strong outing in our first game.”
Murphy played at Union County, Ga., on Tuesday, which ended after this week’s edition of the Cherokee Scout went to press. The Panthers will make the trip to Konehete Park for Murphy’s 2022 home opener at 4:30 p.m. Friday.