By HARVEY SIMPSON

Dispatch Sports Editor



CORDELE — Crisp County High’s Cougars scratched two different kind of “itches” they had during a Friday game against eighth-ranked Class A Schley County.

Their first itching was to avenge the 5-4 loss the Wildcats had dealt them 17 days earlier in Ellaville and to do so by an 8-5 score they used bats, balls and gloves.

Fingernails relieved the second that was brought about by bites from the horde of mosquitoes swarming the Cougar Den playing area even as a crop-dusting plane chemically sprayed an adjoining field.

“I don’t know if you could really say it was the revenge factor that motivated us for this one,” said Crisp head coach Bill Pate who during the game light-heartedly reminded his players the mosquito problem would lessen once it got dark.

“The way we approach going up against a team that has beaten us before is with the idea to come back and be competitive the next time we meet so that we can prove our abilities. I think we did that today with one of those ‘ugly’ wins we’ll gladly take any time.”

Most of the ugliness took part on defense where all but one of the runs Schley managed against senior righthander Ben Massey during his route-going, 10-hit effort were unearned.

Some of it also took place on the basepaths where a few of the “warts” vanished when the Cougars proved smart enough to turn negative situations into somewhat positive ones.

Schley, which entered the game with a 7-2 record identical to that of its host, picked up three tainted tallies to start the game.

After a pair of throwing errors put runners on the corners to open the contest, an infield hit got one run across, Will Gordon’s sharp ground single plated a second and a throwing error on a delayed steal produced the third.

The Wildcats promptly proved to be slightly charitable themselves, committing two errors that led to a first inning Crisp run recorded on Marc Overstreet’s sacrifice fly.

The Cougars drew even in the third that began with Keith Morris bouncing a single between shortstop and third base and Rick Fultz laying down a bunt that went for a hit instead of an intended sacrifice. A wild pitch moved both into scoring position for Bo Carter whose single to left tied matters at 3-3. Blake Wilson later singled in Carter for a 4-3 lead.

Schley picked up its fourth unearned run of the evening in the fourth when a throwing error by Crisp and an infield hit set the stage for a bloop single that snarled things at 4-4.

The Cougars regained the lead for good in their half of the fourth. Will Watson reached on a fielder’s choice, took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Carter’s towering pop-up that fell behind the Wildcats’ shortstop. When Colby Deal bounced into an out at first base, Carter took off for third and got caught in a rundown long enough to score from third.

Despite a near-disastrous base-running blunder in the fifth, Crisp scored twice more in that frame. Drew Stewart’s sacrifice fly brought in one run and a wild pitch plated another.

In eventually improving his personal won-loss record to 5-0 and helping extend the Crisp team’s winning streak to six in a row, Massey had to work out of jams in both the sixth and seventh.

A pair of singles brought the tying run to the plate for Schley in the sixth before Massey induced the hot-hitting Gordon to hit a bouncer back to him for the start of an inning-ending twin kill play that kept the score at 7-4.

Then after the Cougars picked up an insurance run in their half of the sixth on Will Watson’s RBI hit, the Wildcats used two singles and a grounder to score once. Massey, however, then struck out the last batter he faced to end the contest.

“I thought I got stronger as the game progressed, but I never really felt comfortable as the mechanics part just didn’t seem to be working for me,” Massey said in evaluating his mound effort that included seven strikeouts and three walks.

“Fortunately, my change-up and fast ball were pretty good throughout and when my curve finally starting to come around during the late innings that helped, too. I’m just glad we were able to work out of that early 3-0 hole to come back and win the game.”

With two safeties apiece, Carter and Overstreet emerged as the offensive leaders for Crisp which will get the chance to avenge its only other loss of the season at home Monday at 6 vs. Perry High. Crisp also visits Dodge at 5:30 Wednesday.