Scottsboro Junior High School A & B Teams

March 5, 2005
Both the A Team and B Team moved into the win column for the second game in a row with victories over quality Arab Knights squads at Veterans Saturday. Both Cats teams improved to 2 - 1 on the young season.
A Game
C J Gentle went the distance with a gutsy job of pitching in a nail biter 3 - 2 win. The cats scored the go ahead run in their last at bat, after watching Arab tie things up an inning earlier, and come back to hold the Knights in the 7th to take the hard fought victory.
The Cats hit the ball better than in games 1 or 2 with several solid hits, but stranded several runners on base throughout the game. Arab played good defense, and a couple of Cats errors and an opportunistic Knights bunch kept the game in doubt to the end. C J looked great, giving up 1 earned run in 7 innings of hard work, with several strikeouts. C J and Brandon Camp ripped a couple and Ben Gross, Colton Hancock and Conner Boykin helped lead the Cat attack at the plate. Tyler H kept base runners off second with a nice job behind the plate.Well done guys.
B Game
The Cats led wire to wire in this one and showed some good hitting and steady defense to take their 2nd win in a row 10-3 over Arab.
Brandon Camp got the start on the mound and battled for 4 solid innings, allowing only 1 unearned run on 2 hits while striking out 10 Knights batters. A close game in the early stages, the B Cats got cranked in the third and poured it on in the 4th. Leading 8 - 1 Brandon gave way to Jay Benson who kept the Knights in check, giving up 2 runs over the last 3 innings. Several Cats hit the ball well, led by Brandon C and Daniel Justice with doubles and Zach Mardis and David Gonder with some hard shots of their own. Good Job Cats!

The SJHS Cats A & B teams came away with their first victories to even their records and man-handled Madison Co. in Gurley 13-0 and 6-1.
A Game
C J Gentle got the start and recorded 7 strikeouts in his 3 innings of work, as the Cats offense scored early and often. Conner Boykin finished up with 2 scoreless innings of relief. The Cats scored first and never let up, leading to the 10 run rule and game over 13-0 in 5 innings. The Cats were led at the plate by Corey Norris with 2 hits, including a big shot to center, and Chris Tittle with a big double of his own. Several others hit the ball well as everyone contributed to the early ending for Madison Co.
B Game
Keeton Jones and Conner Boykin combined to allow Madison Co. 1 run while the Cat attack put 6 on the board to take their first win. Several Cats contributed with their bats in a team effort and the team showed a solid defense. On to Veterans and the home opener vs. Arab.

A TEAM

A lack of timely hitting and a quality opponent in Monrovia Middle School, possibly the toughest team on the schedule, combined for a loss for the Wildcats. A close game for over 1/2 the way, Monrovia came up with some hard hits and a couple of defensive miscues put the Wildcats away late. It was early and it showed at the plate as the Cats couldn't seem to get on track offensively. Several runners reached but Monrovia's pitchers and defense would not allow a sustained Cat rally to get going.  
The Cat pitchers did an admirable job but stamina is still low and stiffness high in the February cold.
C. J. Gentle started and did well into the 4th. Brandon Camp came on for 2 solid innings and Jay Benson finished up. All did a good job. The defense did a good job for the most part, including a slick double play between 2B Colton Hancock and SS Benson, but a couple of problem plays cost the cats some runs they could not afford to give up. The Cats got in some jams during the game and got out of many and were an eyelash away in a couple more that made a big difference in the outcome. That's baseball, the first game gitters are behind them. Back to work in preparing for game 2 and a shot at redemption Thursday vs. Madison County in the Cats home opener.
Bad news - On the injury list from tonights game - Tyler English (shoulder) is lost for most of the season.

B TEAM

The B team Cats dropped game one, but showed early they have potential. Starter Keeton Jones and the Cats were tied 3-3 thru 3 innings, even with several Monrovia 8th graders in the game. Jones gave way to pitching by commitee as the coaches gave several kids their first shot at pitching for their School.  Monrovia's bats came alive and they took charge late, however, and the cats found themselves on the short end of the score. It's a game in which the growth through experience has begun for the young Cats. They will grow as a team, put this one behind them, work hard and see if they can claw back Thursday against Madison County at Veterans.