Warriors topple Valwood

When the Brookwood baseball team woke up on Friday morning, they were right in the middle of a three way tie for first place in the region. Brookwood, Valwood and Southland Academy all shared the seat at the top with a 5-2 regional record. But on Friday night, as all three teams played, that was sure to change.

Brookwood would host Valwood in a regional match up with big implications on Friday night. Just before their game, however, Southland wrapped up its contest against Terrell. The Raiders bit off more than they could chew and fell in a 5-2 loss. This left the Warriors and the Valiants in a battle for first place.

The contest started as a defensive one early on. Brookwood pitcher Will Elkins would end the top of the first inning with a strikeout. Valwood’s Jake Goff responded with a pair of his own strikeouts to end the inning. While some of Brookwood’s bats were striking well for a few singles, no runs were scored. Both pitchers were forcing easy ground balls and pop flies for their fielders to handle and fans were just waiting to see whose defense cracked first.

Valwood threatened with a single up the middle by Dalton Smith, but a perfectly executed double play would send the Warriors to the batter’s box.

The bottom of the fourth turned out to be a big inning for Brookwood. It started with a long hit ball over the left fielder’s head by Zach Counts for a double. After a walk and a sacrifice bunt put Counts and Isaac Richardson on second and third, the Valiants took a moment for a chat on the mound. It didn’t help, however, as junior Rodge Waldrop proceeded to drive a single past the infield, scoring Counts and Richardson. As the fourth inning came to a close, the Warriors were up 2-0.