Armorel boys still rolling

By AARON FITZPATRICK

Blytheville Courier News

MOUNTAIN HOME -- After outscoring their opponents, 29-5 over the first two games of the 1A state playoffs, the Armorel Tigers needed just two runs to advance to the state championship game. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the game tied at 1-1, Nash Winters hit a blooper that found its way between shortstop and second base. Running on contact, Logan Blankenship scored from second sending Armorel to Fayetteville and a shot at the 1A state title with a 2-1 win over the Ouchita Warriors.

"When it gets down to tough games, it's not 18-0, it's not 11-0. It's a 2-1 grinder and everything is magnified," said an emotional Armorel head coach, Charlie Brown.

Brown was coaching in his seventh straight semifinal game and will coach in his fifth title game in 10 years next Friday against South Side Bee Branch at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Over that period, Brown has seen it all and can add another one to his collection after Saturday's win.

Starting pitcher Dallas Nicholson came up big when Brown needed him. Nicholson allowed just one hit over seven complete innings and struck out 10. That one hit was almost enough for Ouchita who got on the board first in the top of the fourth.

Armorel struggled at the plate all day and had just one hit of their own through five innings. The Tigers finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the fifth to tie it up. Freshman Seth Wyatt's RBI double scored Peyton Brown to tie the game up.

The Armorel defense kept the game tied thanks to double plays to end the fifth and sixth innings. Nicholson struck out the side in the seventh in what was his best inning of the game.

"Dallas Nicholson. Here's a guy who hadn't been able to pitch his whole career," said Brown. "Somehow or another, he finds it. What a story."

While Brown got a huge lift from a senior on the mound, he got plenty of help from his underclassmen as well. Winters, a sophomore, came up with the game winning hit. Freshmen Blankenship and Wyatt came up huge at the plate and the field and freshman Andrew Lannon was a huge force behind the plate catching all weekend.

"We had double plays here and a big lick down the line there," said Brown. "These freshmen were out there in pressure situations and they stepped up. I told them they didn't have time to be freshmen this year. They can be freshmen next year."

The Tigers will meet South Side Bee Branch in the state title game at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon in Fayetteville. Bee Branch defeated Taylor in a one-run game prior to the Tigers' victory Saturday afternoon.

"People don't realize how hard it is to get to Baum (Stadium) and these kids paid the price," said Brown. "We've got a good team that we're going to be facing. They (Bee Branch) have been ranked one or two all year. We've been underdogs all year. Maybe we have one more in us."

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com @CN_AaronF