by Rusty Ellis
The Livingston Academy Wildcats fell behind early, but battled back from two separate deficits to take down Macon County 10-9 in the District 7/AAA Tournament on Monday.
The Tigers got the scoring started in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, and added two more runs in the second on a pair of Livingston errors, the first two of six total errors by the Wildcats on Monday night.
Another run came across in the third inning thanks to an RBI groundout from Hayes Polston, and the Tigers took their biggest lead in the fourth inning with a Braxton Lloyd RBI double and a Braylon Flowers sacrifice fly to make the score 6-0.
Livingston came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth inning however, as run-scoring hits from Quinton Qualls, Tayshawn Hayes, and Carson Parrott led the charge back to tie the score at 6-6.
Dylan York gave the Wildcats the lead with an RBI triple in the same inning, and he came in to score on a passed ball to push the LA lead to 8-6.
Macon County didn’t go quietly either though, as Nate Greene scored on a passed ball to make the score 8-7 before a sacrifice fly and an error scored the tying and go-ahead runs for the Tigers, who led 9-8 going into the last inning.
Livingston had the final say however, as a Kam Norris sacrifice fly tied the game at 9-9, and Zach Cotterman plated the game-winning run on a ground-ball through the second baseman’s legs, clinching a spot for LA in both the district championship game and the region tournament.
For head coach Jamie Loftis, it’s the fulfillment of the hard work his team has put in all year to reach this point.
“Accomplishment, I’ve been here for eight years and this is what we’ve been working towards,” Loftis said. “We’ve finally made it here.”
It would’ve been easy for Livingston to roll over once they fell behind big early, and it would’ve been understandable if the Macon answer in the sixth took the wind out of the sails of the Wildcats when they’d worked as hard as they did to take the lead.
Just like his team has done all year however, different players stepped up when Loftis needed them the most.
“We got some pitches we could hit and we hit them, and we needed to hit every single one of them,” Loftis said. “Throughout the last 20 games, every time there’s been slacks, somebody somewhere has picked it up…everyone’s done their job.”
It’d be one thing if just making the district championship was Loftis’ goal, but he’ll be the first one to tell you that the job’s not finished.
“We’ll enjoy it tonight, but we know we’ve got more baseball in us,” Loftis said. “You want to win the district championship…we’ll see where tomorrow leads us.”
The Wildcats will take on the Upperman Bees in the District 7/AAA Championship on Tuesday in Baxter.
