RCHS playoff run ends in 10-inning loss

The playoffs can be a cruel and deceptive judge of a team’s character. The final scores from RCHS’s third-round state playoff series against Mars Hill Bible Friday and Saturday say that Mars Hill was the better team. And that’s fair in the sense that Mars Hill won two games and earned the right to advance.

But the series showed the razor thin margin between what it means to be a better team and what it means to have just one or two extra breaks go your way. 

Like any game that goes 10 innings, game three of the series – a 9-5 Mars Hill Bible victory – could have just as easily gone the other way.

RCHS was the home team in the game and held a 3-2 lead going into the top of the seventh. But a throwing error by RCHS kept the door open and Mars Hill walked through it, using a sacrifice and a groundout to get the tying run in from second. 

RCHS had runners in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings and could not push a run across to win it, and Mars Hill finally broke through for six runs in the top of the tenth to claim the victory and advance to the state semifinals.

“We had opportunities after opportunities to score,” said RCHS head coach Pat Prestridge. “The frustrating thing is knowing we had multiple opportunities in different innings to take care of business, and we just couldn’t get it done.”

“If we just took care of business we’d be playing another week,” he added. “But that’s the way it goes. It happens.”

The other tantalizing aspect of the outcome is that Fyffe – a team that RCHS beat 12-2 during the regular season – is the Mars Hill opponent in the state semifinals.

“We figured whoever won that game [three] would be the one playing for the state championship,” Prestridge said.

But it wasn’t to be for RCHS. After a 12-1, five-inning victory in game one RCHS appeared to be in complete control of the series.

But Mars Hill rallied to win game two 6-4 Friday night to force Saturday’s winner-take-all contest.

“I think we got frustrated a little bit the second game, especially at the plate,” Prestridge said.

After scoring 12 runs on nine hits in five innings in game one, the Tigers’ bats cooled in the clutch in game two. The team still managed eight hits and had multiple scoring opportunities, but the big run-scoring hits never seemed to come like they did in game one.

The game one rout was fueled by a seven-run fifth inning in which RCHS sent 11 hitters to the plate. The key hit was a bases-loaded double by Dylan Jones that cleared the bases and gave RCHS an 8-1 lead. 

Jones finished the game 2-for-3 with a season-high five RBI, and pitcher Danny Simpson was swimming in the luxury of the team’s offensive output. 

Simpson allowed one run on four hits in four innings of work, once again pitching to contact and relying on steady team defense as he faced 17 batters and recorded just one strikeout.

Eric Henderson and Brody Wortham had two hits apiece in that game, and everything seemed to be going right for the Tigers.

But momentum shifted sharply in the second game. Mars Hill scored single runs in the first and second innings against pitcher J.R. Roundtree, then added a pair of two-spots in the fourth and fifth to build a 6-1 lead, as the RCHS bats suddenly cooled.

The team loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs and could not score, then again left the bases loaded in the fifth after scoring twice to cut the lead to 6-3.

“When something bad happens you’ve got to shake it off sometimes and let me do the fussing and let me be the one to moan and groan and not let it affect you as a player,” Prestridge said. “We just let the emotions get to us a little the second game, and I guess we sort of had the big head a little bit too.”

RCHS fought back in the seventh, scoring once to make it a 6-4 game and putting the potential tying run on base with two outs before eventually seeing that rally snuffed out.

Wortham had a double and drove in two runs for RCHS, while Christian Benefield went 3-for-4 and scored twice.

In game three Mars Hill scored twice in the first as Simpson returned to the mound. But RCHS steadied itself to score two in the second to tie it and one more in the fourth to take the 3-2 lead that almost held up.

Roundtree homered and doubled in the game, and Simpson went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

It’s the end of a remarkable run for seniors Simpson, Roundtree, Benefield, Hunter Ray, Henderson and Colton Cooper. 

Simpson and Roundtree in particular have been critical pieces throughout a four year stretch in which RCHS went 100-38, won four area championships, won 11 playoff series, set the single-season school record for victories (this year’s 28) and made the school’s first-ever trip to the baseball state finals.

“I know the seniors were looking forward to getting back [to the state finals],” Prestridge said. “But they don’t have anything to be ashamed of. A lot of folks in this world would give anything to be a part of what they have right now.”

“The unity they had, the work ethic they had,” Prestridge continued. “You know a championship is great, but they’re champions inside and that’s going to mean more to them down the road than anything else. I’m just proud for them, and I wish I had a thousand more like them.”