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Late run gives Byrnes District title
By Leon G. Russ
HOMETOWN NEWS
There was one out in the bottom of the ninth, the score knotted at one. Johnny Ponder was standing on third. Ninety feet stood between him, home plate and a Region IV District championship for the Byrnes Rebels.
Across the diamond, catcher Andrew Cleveland led off first base.
The Rebels looked to steal the win as Cleveland broke for second. The Spring Valley catcher came up out of his crouch, pumped towards second and fired to third base.
Ponder wasn’t fooled. “I figured he’d throw it (but) I knew he wasn’t going to throw it to second.”
The catcher rushed the throw, it bounced a foot in front of third before skipping down the leftfield line as Ponder raced home and his teammates raced from the dugout to swarm in celebration of the Rebels winning the championship.
“We won the district championship for the first time in I don’t know how many years. That’s the greatest feeling in the world right there,” said starting pitcher Daniel Gossett.
It didn’t come easy as Spring Valley matched their ace Jared Keels against Gossett.
It was a pitching matchup not often seen in high school ball, especially in the age of the aluminum bat.
Gossett went eight innings, allowed one earned run on three hits, struck out 13 and walked three.
Keels, the tough luck loser, pitched the entire game, 8 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, eight hits, struck out seven and walked one.
For the rest of the story, see (Rebels | page B5) in the Sports section of Hometown News.
Photo By Leon G. Russ
The Byrnes Rebels celebrate their 2-1 victory over Spring Valley last week. The win gave the Rebels the 4A District IV baseball title.
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