Dylan Whitehead Drives In 5 Runs As Monterey Wins At Smith County, 9-6

By Michael Lindsay

 

The Monterey Wildcats improved to 13-7 overall on Thursday as they earned a 9-6 victory at Smith County in District 5-2A play.

“We took advantage of some opportunities we had,” said Monterey head coach John Looper. “We had some big hits. We try to win every inning and made the outs when we had to.”

Dylan Whitehead led the Wildcats at the plate as he recorded 5 RBIs while going 2-3 with a pair of doubles. Whitehead also recorded the victory on the mound as he struck out three batters in 5 innings.

Smith County out-hit Monterey 12-5 on the evening as Ethan Montgomery went 3-4 followed by Bennett Gammon, Evan King and Morgan Sinclair recording two hits each.

Monterey took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning as an Evan Robinson double to center scored Eli Phillips and Jake Rachford followed by a Whitehead grounder to score Dawson Hedgecough, giving the Wildcats a 3-0 advantage.

“Our approach doesn’t change; we’re trying to get the barrel of the bat on the ball and limit strikeouts,” said Looper. “We’re starting to click a little more now.”

Smith County responded in the bottom of the frame as a two-out single by Montgomery scored Kylan Johnson and Gammons to cut Monterey’s lead to 3-2.

Monterey tacked on to their lead in the top of the fifth as a double by Whitehead scored two runs along with a Lawson Cantrell round-out to score Robinson, extending Monterey’s lead to 6-2.

The Owls posted four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the contest at 6-6 following singles by Ty Martin and Sinclair to score a run each along with a Riley Martin ground-out and Monterey error on a TJ Testa grounder.

“We knew that bunch was not going to lay down,” Looper said of Smith County. “They’re too talented and won too many games. We knew it was coming, we just had to weather the storm.”

Monterey broke the tie in the top of the sixth inning as a Hedgecough single scored Rachford followed by a Whitehead double to score Hedgecough and Robinson, giving Monterey a 9-6 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

Smith County loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Monterey relief pitcher Eli Phillips forced a ground-out followed by a double play to strand all three Owl runners in the frame.

The Owls threatened with two runners on in the bottom of the seventh before Phillips struck out the final two batters to seal the 9-6 victory.

Monterey is scheduled to play at Livingston Academy on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

“We’ve got to keep our mindset in the right place,” said Looper. “We’ve been really competitive and playing really hard.”