GADSDEN – It was smooth sailing Friday afternoon for the Cullman Bearcats as they routed the Southside Panthers 11-2.
After being retired in order in the first inning, Cullman blew the lid off the game by sending eight men to the plate, five of which touched home. Noah Fondren started the offensive onslaught with an infield single. Jacob Heatherly would join his teammate on the bases with a single of his own while Carter Bowen would lay down a sacrifice to move both runners into scoring position. Wheeler Eastman would follow and he would lay down a textbook squeeze bunt that scored Fondren. Caleb Lipsey then reached first on the first of three errors on the Southside first baseman. Trent Price loaded the bases with a single that brought Kolby Robinson to the plate. He promptly delivered a two-run single that scored Taylor (who was running for Heatherly) and Lipsey. Levi Thomas was next to get in on the action when he singled home Robinson to cap a five-run inning.
The Cats would add three more in the third, all coming with two outs, thanks to a pair of errors and a pair of wild pitches. Thomas would add an RBI double in the fourth and Fondren would pick up his RBI in the sixth. Heatherly was dynamite on the mound, giving up just two runs on four hits, four walks and six strikeouts, including striking out the side in the first inning. The two Southside runs would come in the second on an RBI single by Jacob Coker and a questionable call on a steal at the plate by Grayson Daugherty.
The Cats took game two on the strength of a solid pitching performance by Will Morrison who shut the door on Southside by blanking the Panthers and striking out eight in the 3-0 win. Cullman advances to the championship series Friday at 7 p.m. at Montgomery’s Paterson Field. Game two will be played Saturday at Riverwalk Stadium, the home of the Montgomery Biscuits, with a first pitch time of 4 p.m.
