Fort holds off Giants to win tourney

Fort Defiance ran out to a six-run lead but had to hold off a surging Waynesboro squad in the seventh inning to grab an 11-9 win and the Southern Valley District baseball tournament championship at the KC on Thursday.
The Indians blitzed three Waynesboro pitchers for 17 hits and needed almost all of them to keep the top seed at bay.
“We’ve been hitting the ball well the last couple of weeks,” Fort coach Vic Spotts said.  “I’m very pleased with that.”
Sean Britt picked up four hits from his fourth spot in the batting order and Aaron Sheets had three to lead the Fort.  The Indians will host a Region III contest Tuesday.
Blake Sipe pitched six strong innings for the win.  The sophomore gave up six runs on just six hits.  He was jinxed with a couple of Fort fielding errors in Waynesboro’s five-run fourth.
The Indians jumped on Waynesboro ace Jeremy Hahn for three runs in both the second and third innings to dash to the early 6-0 lead.
Lefty Wright had an RBI single and Derek Shifflett added a two-run triple in the second while a Righty Wright run-scoring single and a Sheets two-RBI double were the big hits in the third.
But the Little Giants stormed back in the bottom of the fourth.
Jay Thompson led off the inning with a walk and Josh Craig reached on an error. Both runners advanced when a bad throw scattered the Fort reserves in the dugout. Hahn was walked intentionally to load the bases and Stevie Moreland delivered an RBI-single through the box to put Waynesboro on the board.
Will Freeman then followed with a two-run double to right. With relief pitcher Drew DeMoss getting a rare plate appearance, Moreland scampered home on a wild pitch that was set up by a suicide squeeze attempt. DeMoss then delivered a Baltimore chop between first and second to plate Freeman. But the Indians got out of the inning on a double play.
“I told [the team during a time out] that if they didn’t settle down, we would blow a gasket,” Spotts said of that fourth inning. “They buckled down and got out of [the inning].”
After a scoreless fifth, the Indians gave themselves some breathing room with five more runs in the sixth.
Lefty Wright opened with a triple to chase the freshman DeMoss. But the third reliever, Joseph Lucas, gave up consecutive singles to Shifflett and Dustin Brugler before Sipe’s fielder’s choice moved the runner up a base. Justin Chittum walked to load the bases and Michael Wade made Lucas pay with a two-run single.
Britt and Righty Wright added RBI as Fort made it 11-5.
“We battled back after giving up a big inning in the fourth,” Spotts said.  “It’s a good thing we did, because Waynesboro just doesn’t give up.”
The Little Giants picked up a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh, but left the bases loaded as Fort reliever Righty Wright struck out Freeman to end the game.
Sipe picked up the win despite the five-run fourth.
“Blake wasn’t as sharp as I’ve seen him before, but he threw very well,” Spotts said.  “He stayed competitive but got a little tired in the end.  His pitch count got up.”
Sipe threw 92 pitches with three walks and four strikeouts.  Righty Wright struck out three in the seventh despite giving up three runs on four hits.
Waynesboro — with it’s regular-season title — earned a first-round bye in the Region III tournament and will host a second-round game on Tuesday.