Tigers fall behind early to Bibb, lose fifth straight
Demopolis dug itself an early hole Saturday and proved unable to fight out of it while suffering its fifth straight loss in a 9-5 defeat to Bibb County.
“We can’t. We don’t have the firepower to. We have to catch the ball and we have to throw the ball and put ourselves in position to play small ball when we need to. When we give up three early, we just can’t fight back from that. We’re not the type of team that’s going to hit a three-run home run in the seventh,” Demopolis coach James Moody said of his team’s rocky first inning, which included a throwing error and a tailor-made double play ball that left the bases loaded with nobody out. “It’s disappointing. I thought there was no focus there. There was a lack of energy and passion for what we were doing and it showed in our play.”
The Choctaw scored three runs in the first inning despite hitting only one ball out of the infield in the frame. Kaden Kornegay started the game with a leadoff single before scoring on Andrew Watts’s RBI fly-ball to right. Matthew Hiott scored on Eric Woodruff’s infield hit to push the Bibb lead to 2-0. Jaleel Anderson made it 3-0 when he scored on Brooks Conner’s grounder.
Watts and Woodruff each reached on two-out errors in the third inning and scored on a Conner double to move the lead to 5-0.
Demopolis got on the board in the home half of the third when DeDe Davis singled and scored on Hunter Colyar’s single to left to cut the deficit to 5-1. The The Choctaws responded with fervor in the top of the fourth. Andrew Martin scored on a Kornegay single. Anderson then singled in Kornegay to make it 7-1. Hiott scored on a delayed steal of home to push the lead to 8-1.
Demopolis showed some offensive life in the bottom of the fourth when Wesley Allgood singled to left to plate Jake Malone and Jonathon Lewis to cut the deficit to 8-3. Demopolis appeared poised for more when Davis drew a walk to load the bases, but the Tigers were unable to cash in and stranded three runners in the frame.
“I think they’re all pressing right now. That’s five (losses) in a row and they’re pressing,” Moody said of his hitters. “And that’s my job to get them out of that mentality and just let it come to them and play, let them do what they’re capable of doing. I definitely think we’re pressing at the plate for sure.”
Bibb added one more in the sixth as William Lawrence scored on an Anderson single to push the lead at 9-3. Chandler Barton walked to lead off the seventh before Colyar doubled. Each player scored on a passed ball to set the final margin.
“We have to come to the park ready to play. We did Wednesday night against Thomasville,” Moody said. “We played well. Right now, everything that can go wrong is going wrong for us. We’re creating that. It’s not like it’s just happening to us. It’s our own fault. Physical mistakes happen and I can live with physical mistakes. But the mental mistakes we’re making, there’s no excuse for. That’s focus and preparation and that starts with me.”
Thomasville 6, Demopolis 5
The loss followed a difficult Wednesday affair in which Demopolis saw Thomasville score three runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off with a 6-5 victory. Caleb Schreiner singled in Parker Coopwood to win the game. Thomasville started the rally when Braxton Chaney reached on an error and Latavian Washington drew a walk. Thomasville opted for a sacrifice bunt with Coopwood and Demopolis failed to get anybody on the play to load the bases with nobody out.
Corrigan Thibodeaux singled home Quentin Brown to cut it to 5-4. Washington then tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Zack Woodard.
Demopolis opened the scoring in the top of the second. Charles Casper and Jonathon Lewis hit back-to-back singles before Ryan Morrison drew a walk to load the bases. Two batters later, Wesley Allgood singled in Casper and Lewis to make it 2-0.
Demopolis struck again in the top of the third as Casper singled in Hunter Colyar for the 3-0 lead. Morrison later hit a sacrifice fly to left plate Hudson Holley for the 4-0 advantage.
Thomasville got back in it with a three-run rally in the bottom of the third. Woodard singled in Romal Taylor and Washington to cut it to 4-2. Grant DeRoven singled in Coopwood to make it 4-3.
Demopolis added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when R.J. Cox singled home Chandler Barton to put the visiting Tigers up 5-3.
Trinity 8, Demopolis 1
The loss came on the heels of the Tigers suffering an 8-1 defeat to Trinity Presbyterian last Saturday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. The Tigers committed six errors in the contest and were listless for seven innings as Trinity scored in every frame except the second and the seventh.
The Tigers got their lone run in the bottom of the seventh when Hudson Holley picked up his first RBI of the season with a fielder’s choice that plated Andrew Patterson.
Demopolis (3-5) is scheduled to play again Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. when it hosts Dallas County.