Small ball pays off big for Perry against Mary Persons

Friday’s game against Mary Persons was pivotal for the Perry baseball team if it wanted to remain competitive in the GHSA Region 2-4A championship race. Perry prevailed as it pulled off a 4-3 win against the top team in the region Mary Persons (14-6) and snapped its own six-game losing streak.

Perry (8-11) lost its previous game 3-2 at home to West Laurens. But in Friday’s game, the team came together collectively to ensure it wouldn’t suffer a seventh consecutive loss.

In the second inning the Panthers incorporated a small-ball strategy that proved to be too much for the Bulldogs as the Panthers took control.

Three who mattered

Bryce Morgan: The junior pitcher gave up five hits and three runs.

Andrew Tarrer: The senior outfielder had two hits and scored a run.

Peyton Sells: The senior outfielder had an RBI and a hit and scored a run.

Turning point

During the Panthers’ turn on offense for the second, Vincent Glover and Andrew Tarrer were on first and second base, respectively, and Chase Padgett was at bat. Padgett bunted the ball, and Glover and Tarrer scored, giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

They said it

Tucker on the win: “That was huge. You know we’ve been a little slump here lately and lost three to West Laurens and obviously Mary Persons coming into town, sitting on top of our region. You know we challenged our kids, and they were up for the challenge tonight. It was huge for our guys.”

Tucker on whether the team played with a short-term memory or chip on its shoulder after losing to West Laurens on Tuesday: “Probably maybe a little of both because when we left over there we talked about how that it’s over with. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve got three more sets to go. Mary Persons coming into town, so I think they had a short-term memory, and I think they had a chip on their shoulder because you know we want to be on top of the region. We want to be competing for the region championship, and after losing to West Laurens that knocked us down a pretty good bit so we had to come in here and play well (Friday) and we did. Both teams played well. Mary Persons played really well too. It was just a really good ballgame to watch.”

Tucker on the team’s small ball approach: “Yeah, we like to play small ball when we get runners on, stuff like that you know. We’ve been struggling a little bit with our small ball game you know executing wise, not getting the bunt down when we need to. (On Friday), we really got the bunts down, put the pressure on the defense. You know it’s a 0-0 game, or they’re up by one that time. You have to try to climb back in and put pressure on their defense. It worked out for a little bit for us, and we run the bases well. Execution was a big part of our game (Friday). Of course with Bryce on the mound, you know if you get a run or two lead the way he was throwing tonight. He feel pretty good about that thing. Execution and small game was really important for us.”

What’s next?

Perry plays at Mary Persons on Friday while Mary Persons plays at Bleckley County on Monday.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Small ball pays off big for Perry against Mary Persons."