Fast start, pitching leads Oak Mountain to win over Pell City

Published 5:20 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2023

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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles won their second straight game on Tuesday, Feb. 21, scoring three runs in the first three innings and combined pitching effort against Pell City.

The Eagles held the Panthers scoreless for the first six innings of the game and only gave up one in the final inning, but by that time, they had done enough to pick up a 3-1 victory.

Oak Mountain struck first in the bottom of the second when Josh Hart hit a two-out RBI single to shortstop that drove home Carter Kimbrell for a 1-0 advantage.

Then, an inning later, Nicholas McCord added to that lead with an RBI triple. One batter after Trey Kocks singled to left field, McCord stepped up and lined a ball to center field that allowed Kocks to come home and McCord to get all the way to third.

In scoring position, he was able to come home one at bat later on a ground out from Matthew Heiberger that made it 3-0 in favor of the Eagles.

Oak Mountain didn’t score again after that, leaving three runners on base the rest of the way, but the Eagles used a strong pitching performance the rest of the way to cement the win.

Pell City went down in order over the next two innings and only had one base runner reach over the next three.

The Panthers, however, did load the bases with one out in the top of the seventh, but they were only able to get one run out of it on a bases-loaded walk.

Brady Saville got the win on the mound thanks to a five-inning effort that featured just one hit and no walks or runs. He struck out five in the impressive showing. Alex Harrison struck out two in 1 1/3 innings on the mound, allowing one run on two hits. Xander Hughes then finished off the final two outs by earning one strikeout and forcing a game-ending fly out with the bases loaded.

At the plate, McCord and Hart both finished with two hits and one RBI, while Heiberger had one hit and one RBI. The Eagles totaled eight hits in the win.