Tanner Hall’s arm leads to championship for Houston County baseball
With the Houston County baseball team’s season on his arm, Tanner Hall made sure his teammates will be getting championship rings after he posted another dominating performance, shutting out Loganville 12-0 on Tuesday night in the GHSA Class AAAAA championship game.
Faced time and again this postseason with must-win situations for the Bears, Hall put on a performance that will go down as one of the best anyone will ever see. He surrendered just one run in the entire playoffs, which was unearned. He shut out Cambridge in the second round, shut out Gainesville in the semifinals and shut out Loganville in the title tilt, all in Game 3s.
“Throwing strikes and getting ahead of people is the big deal,” Hall said. “When I walk people, that’s usually when I struggle. Letting them make contact is the main thing.”
Not only did he pitch Houston County to a title, he got the job done with his bat, as well. The cleanup hitter for the Bears and their most consistent hitter all season, Hall reached base safely in 8-of-11 plate appearances in the championship series.
Loganville intentionally walked him in his first at-bat Monday before pitching to him two innings later and watching a fastball sail over the center-field fence. Determined not to let it happen again, the Red Devils walked him four more times in the series, including three times in the finale.
His final at-bat was a solid opposite field rope to the left-center gap, a swing that the senior repeated so many times this season.
“I think the last hit was a perfect way to sum it up, a back-side single,” Hall said. “That was just perfect. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The Armstrong State signee is the picture of silent confidence. Stoic and determined on the mound and at the plate, he’s seemingly at his best when the most is at stake.
With Houston County clinging to a precarious one-run lead in the third Tuesday, Hall dug deep and dug his team out of trouble. After two men reached without the benefit of a hit, Hall promptly struck out the next two hitters in succession. He surrendered a walk to load the bases before battling arguably Loganville’s best hitter, Morgan Copeland, and coaxing him into a foul pop that ended the threat after a lengthy at-bat.
“You know he’s going to throw strikes, you know he’s going to compete, and you know he’s going to be a leader on the field,” Houston County head coach Jason Brett said. “That’s exactly what you saw (Tuesday). He got into some tough situations, he battled through it, and he got out of some jams. He did an outstanding job.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Tanner Hall’s arm leads to championship for Houston County baseball."