By Stephen Smoot
The 11-0 blanking of the Bath County visitors from the Old Dominion would, at first glance, appear to be the product of Pendleton County’s big bats.
Under more careful examination, however, the Wildcats’ senior night triumph came as a result of patience at the plate and timely moves once called “small ball” in the time when Joe Torre’s Yankee squads dominated the American League.
Prior to the game, attendees honored the four seniors who contributed much to this year’s strong performances.
Caleb Armentrout emerged as one of the toughest outs in the Potomac Valley Conference as a leadoff hitter batting .358 while deftly holding down second base, one of the most mentally demanding positions on the field.
Josiah Kimble’s contributions resemble what broadcaster Jack Fleming often said of star West Virginia University defensive back and outfielder Darrell Whitmore, who later played for the Florida Marlins, that “75 percent of the Earth is covered by water and Whitmore covers the rest.”
On this night, Kimble from his centerfield position tracked down two hard hit fly balls that fell harmlessly into his glove on a dead run.
Tucker Smith always brought solid defense to the field with the ability to contribute in different ways.
The fourth senior, James Vincell, was initially seen only as an unofficial coach and mentor of the younger players this season. Recovering faster than expected from his football injury, however, first allowed him to wield his power hitting bat, then later let him get back behind the plate as a catcher and field leader. In 16 games, he hit .349 and served as a catalyst for a number of big offensive innings.
Emma Hartman, a dominating performer from the track squad also was honored, walking onto the field with her parents right alongside the baseball seniors.
To start the game, Chase Owens took the mound for Pendleton County and settled in quickly, allowing only two hits in the five inning complete game. His performance served as a master class in pitching control as he struck out nine and walked no hitters whatsoever.
Almost mistake-free defense from fielders contributed to the dominant performance of Owens.
Armentrout took the first pitch of the bottom of the first for a strike, then held off of four straight pitches that missed the strike zone to get on base. Three batters later, Chase Owens reached out and poked a pitch, looping it into left field. As Armentrout sped home, Owens reached second easily.
Up 1-0, Cole Harper came to the plate. Three pitches in, Owens stole third. The next pitch, Harper drove to the wall in left field, bringing home the baserunner on third for the second run scored.
In the bottom of the second, the leadoff hitter Spencer Hartman was himself hit by a pitch and got on base. Smith worked a walk out of his at bat. This set up Kimble, whose bunt single died in no-man’s-land half way between the pitcher’s mound and third base, allowing him to beat the throw.
This brought Armentrout back up. He extended for a pitch and powered it into shallow center, which brought in two runs.
This at bat, like many others from the Pendleton County side, resulted from the Wildcat hitter not getting his full strength behind the hit. Though the three Bath County pitchers dealt a lot of walks, they also kept Pendleton County hitters from hitting the ball squarely and with full strength. Hitters that normally saw deep fly balls and screaming line drives had to settle for powering out singles and patiently waiting for bases on balls to rack up the runs.
Sam Yokum, head coach who manned third base while his squad was on offense, took a conservative tack, holding up runners at third and getting the bases loaded in multiple innings. This put pressure on Bath pitchers, whose walks led directly to runs for the Wildcats in multiple innings.
The next batter, Travis Owens, was hit by a pitch. The bases being loaded at the time, this brought in the fourth run. With the bases still loaded, Vincell came up. He sent a three ball and two strike pitch back up the middle. The second baseman’s misplay brought a run in and allowed all to reach base safely.
Later in the inning, Harper drew a bases loaded walk to extend the lead to six to nothing. Then, a single to left by Mason Harper brought in another run. Hartman’s return to the plate for the second time in the inning led to a sacrifice and a run batted in. The inning concluded with an 8-0 advantage for the home team.
The top of the third featured not only power pitching from the Wildcat ace, but also great defense. Hartman, at third base, stole a single by snagging a rocket of a line drive. The second out came from a slowly hit ball between first and second. Armentrout hustled to meet the ball, then got the runner out on a bang-bang play as he fired the ball to Cole Harper at first.
Meanwhile, Bath County kept switching in new pitchers to try and knock Pendleton County hitters off balance. This kept most hitters from seeing the same pitcher in consecutive at bats, which likely prevented a number of home team runs scored.
The bottom of the third saw the visitors get their first leadoff hitter out in the game, but Armentrout got on base with a single. Travis Owens received a base on balls, which brought up Vincell. On the first pitch, with runners at the corners, Pendleton County perfectly performed a double steal with the leadoff runner scoring the ninth run of the game, but the solo score of the inning.
The Chargers got their second hit in the top of the fourth, but it came to naught. Kimble kept the leadoff man off base by catching a deep fly ball in a full sprint. With two outs, Vincell fired a throw from home plate to get the runner at first caught in a run down that ended in the third out.
In the bottom of the fourth, Cole Harper led off the inning with a check swing single into right field, followed by Cashton Kisamore singling to third. An error allowed the runners to go to second and third safely.
After Colby Simmons walked on four pitches to once again load the bases, the Charger pitcher recorded two outs. Armentrout, however, drew a walk to bring home the 10th run. Travis Owens followed with his own single to add the 11th.
In the closing half inning, Chase Owens struck out the first two batters swinging, but the third batter of the inning gave the first pitch to him a ride into deep right center field.
It was definitely appropriate that Kimble, who provided countless great plays on that same field in the fall and the spring, as well as being a dead eye shooter and relentless defender for the basketball team, ended his final regular season game ever in Franklin with yet another trademark big play.
Once again, as the last vestiges of the light of the day faded, Kimble took off, using his speed to catch up with the deep line drive, and then employed graceful athleticism to haul in the out.
Weather permitting, the Wildcats were to begin regional play at home against the East Hardy Cougars on Wednesday with the second game today and the third game, if needed, on Saturday. Games begin at 6 p.m.
