Tigers return to state title game

The Armorel Tigers are returning to the 1A state baseball finals for the first time since their 2006 state championship.

Thanks to a dominant 10-2 win over the Midland Mustangs Wednesday afternoon at the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex, the Tigers will meet the Viola Longhorns Saturday in Conway at the University of Central Arkansas for the championship.

"I'm really just numb right now," said longtime Tiger head coach Charlie Brown. "I told the kids when we came out here today, let's don't think about winning, let's don't think about losing. Let's come out here and think about playing the game. Respecting the game and playing for the love of the game."

His team did just that.

Offensively, the Tiger bats were on fire again. Armorel collected nine hits off of starting pitcher Skylar Litaker over six innings and 11 total for the game. They converted two sacrifices and stole four bases. Defensively, besides an error in the seventh inning, Armorel was nearly flawless. On the mound, they received another dominant performance from senior Chris Ashmore. Three days after stifling the number one seeded Taylor Tigers, Ashmore came up with another gem against the second seeded Mustangs. He gave up just one earned run on five hits while striking out six and walking just one over seven stellar innings.

"What can you say?" said Brown. "It was just another great pitching performance. He hit his spots all day. We had an idea of what we wanted to do. We thought they'd chase the high fastball and they did. He'd bust him in and then bring it back out."

Ashmore gave up back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the first to Drew Forston and Logan Smith. After that, he faced the minimum of 16 batters over the next five and two thirds innings pitched. He walked one batter, Kyle Martin, over that time with two outs in the bottom of the third but promptly picked Martin off at first base to end the inning.

"I was felling great," said Ashmore. "My teammates were keeping me up. We were a little down in the first and the seventh but we kept each other up throughout the game."

Armorel broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the top of the third. Ryan Sullivan's RBI double scored LaVonta Smith from second. Sullivan continued his tournament tear at the plate going 3-5 on the day with two RBIs and a two runs scored. He hit .533 (8-15) for the tournament from the lead off spot and led off all three games with a hit.

"I've been seeing the ball really well right now," said Sullivan. "If they throw it right down the middle, I'm going to jump on it."

After Sullivan's RBI double, Taylor Hopper walked and Ty Wagganer singled to bring home Sullivan. Hopper scored on a wild pitch to put the Tigers up, 4-0, two and a half innings.

Armorel plated two more in the top of the fifth to go up, 6-0, thanks to three consecutive singles from Wagganer, Tyler Byrd and Jonathan Baker. At the 3-4 spot in the lineup, Wagganer and Byrd have been a nightmare for opposing pitchers throughout the tournament with Wagganer hitting .500 (5-10) and Byrd hitting at .545 (6-11).

"We can go up and down the line up with kids who've been playing great," said Brown. "It's just been a total team effort."

That team effort continued in the top of the sixth as singles from Justin Guilliams (2-4) and Sullivan and a sacrifice from Wagganer extended the Tiger lead to 9-0. Zach Skelton's RBI single in the seventh scoring Baker gave Armorel a 10- lead with only three outs from a trip to Conway.

If Ashmore struggled at all, it was in the bottom of the seventh as he gave up three consecutive singles to start the innings to Forston, Smith. Smith's single and a fielding error scored Forston and Smith for the Mustangs only runs of the game. For a brief moment, images of last year's semifinal game against West Side Greers Ferry may have run through some minds. Armorel gave up a six run lead late in that game.

"They say it's hard to get back into a game when your down, but I think it can be tougher to stay on top when you're ahead," said Ashmore. "It can be hard to stay focused and do the things you have to do to win the game."

There would be no let dow this year. Ashmore threw out Thomas at the plate on a grounder from Litaker and then got Nathan Rickett and Jon Farrar to pop up in the infield.

"They played with passion today," said Brown. "You can't believe how proud of them I am."

Armorel will take on the Viola Longhorns Saturday afternoon. Viola defeated the Kirby Trojans, 11-1, in the late game to conclude the 1A state tournament.

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com