Sweet Water vanquishes Purple Demons to move to semifinal round

Sweet Water notched a pair of two-run wins over Ragland Friday to move to the Class 1A state semifinal round.

The Bulldogs downed Ragland 4-2 in the opener. Jonah Smith did the job on the mound in game one, striking out eight batters over seven innings of work while limiting Ragland to three hits and two unearned runs. The Purple Devils got their first run of the game on a throwing error in the fourth and score another in the seventh after a player reached on an error in the seventh.

Sweet Water did the bulk of its damage in the bottom of the third. Luke Davis singled to open the frame. Sasha Smith later singled in Shamar Lewis for the 1-0 lead. Jonah Smith then singled in Trent Sams and Sasha Smith for the 3-0 advantage. Chance Broussard doubled and scored on a passed ball in the sixth for the final Bulldog run of the game.

Sweet Water hung five runs in the fourth of game two to anchor a 7-5 victory in the nightcap. The Bulldogs fell behind 2-0 after one inning of play as Ragland’s Noah Hollingsworth hit a two-run homer on the fifth pitch of the game.

Lewis singled to right to drive in Reid Joiner in the top of the second to cut that deficit in half. Davis put the Bulldogs up to stay in the top of the fourth when he followed a Joiner single with an inside-the-park homer to for the 3-2 advantage. Lewis later reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored on an error to make it 4-2. John Thomas Etheridge singled in Chastian Washington to push it to 5-2. Jonah Smith scored on a passed ball to set the score at 6-2. Lewis scored on Sams’ sacrifice fly in the fifth for the final Bulldog run of the game.

Hollingsworth took a 2-0 pitch to center in the bottom of the fifth for second homer of the game to cut it to 7-3. Ragland plated two in the sixth inning and had runners on first and second when Chance Broussard induced a grounder to end the threat.

Broussard struck out two batters over two innings of work to notch the save. Sasha Smith got the win, fanning three over five while allowing three hits.

The Bulldogs will draw a familiar foe in the semis as they stand opposite Class 1A, Area 1 runner-up Millry, which beat Sumiton Christian 16-1 and 9-5 Friday night.

Sweet Water took two of three from Millry in late March to win the season series. The series that will define the season for both team’s opens Thursday with a doubleheader set for 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.