Grimsley-West Forsyth

Great ball game at West Forsyth. Grimsley jumped out to a 7-0, scoring two in the first with an RBI double by Clint Moore and another RBI double by Aaron Jones.
It stayed that way till the top of the 5th. Grimsley scored 5 times. Cody Walker knocked in two, Gabe Dimock knocked in two and Cal Sutphin laid down a tough sqeeze bunt to get it to 7-0.
Clint Moore pitched an outstanding game. Was cruising through 4, gave up 2 runs in the 5th, and three in the 6th. In the bottom of the 7th with one out, Grimsley made an error, and Moore hit the next guy. Greg Holt, probably the best HR hitter in NC, drove a 3-2 pitch to the deepest part of the ball park. Most people thought it was a walk-off game winning HR, but somehow the ball stayed in the park, Alan Craven caught it at the wall and doubled off the runner at 2nd base to end the game.
Being the coach of Grimsley, I'm very proud of my team and all the fans that made the trip. It's a great win for our program over an outstanding West Forsyth team. They are well coached, deciplined and I feel fortunate to get out of there with a win.
Next, it's Metro4A rivals, Northwest Guilford at Grimsley, Friday night 7:00.

 

Alan, I'm a North Davidson fan who has seen West play a half dozen times this season. They are an outstanding team with at least 3 or 4 D1 players (2 to UNC, 1 to UNCG, Stamper who chose Wake Forest football instead of baseball). Point: great win for your kids. It's tough to beat West in their park.

We both have our hands full Friday night inside our conference (we have a red hot Davie Co team). Hope to see you in a week!

 

Coach, your upset was the featured game on the front page of today's WS Journal. No pictures, but here's the article:

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/S...id=1173351221171&path=!sports&s=1037645509200


Grimsley holds off rally by West Forsyth
Titans climb out of a 7-0 hole, but come up short in ninth inning

For one brief moment, it seemed that West Forsyth might pull off a miracle comeback in the final inning of last night’s Class 4-A West baseball playoffs against Greensboro Grimsley. With two men on and one out, Greg Holt hit a towering drive to deep center field that would have won the game had it cleared the fence.

As things turned out, it wasn’t meant to be for the Titans. Holt’s drive didn’t carry far enough and Grimsley’s Alan Craven made the catch right at the fence, then threw back to infield to double up one of the West Forsyth runners and end the game.

It was a mad and frantic finish for West Forsyth, which suffered a 7-5 loss in the second round. Grimsley (19-10) will play at home against Northwest Guilford in a third round matchup on Friday. West Forsyth ends its season at 20-5.

“I’m very proud with how this group fought back and gave themselves a chance to win it at the end,” said Coach Randy Pope of West Forsyth. “Grimsley came in and did what they had to do. They hit the ball well and it didn’t seem to matter who we had on the mound.”

For most of the game, West Forsyth showed little signs of staging a dramatic comeback. The Whirlies were clearly in command with a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning. Until then, Grimsley starting pitcher Clint Moore held the Titans in check by allowing just one hit.
But in its half of the fifth, West Forsyth’s offense came to life with two runs. The next inning, Matt Sapp, Garrison Lassiter and Ryan Todd each drove in a run and the deficit was reduced to 7-5.

The Titans made one final push in the bottom of the seventh with one out. John Stamper reached base when the shortstop bobbled his ground ball, then Sapp was hit by a pitch. Holt stepped to the plate and hit a 3-2 pitch that looked like it might be a home run.

“Everybody in the park — including me — thought that ball had gone out,” Pope said. “He hit it a long way, but it just didn’t carry far enough.
In the game’s late stages, Moore managed to put together enough of the right pitches to help the Whirlies advance to the next playoff round. Moore finished with three strikeouts and one walk.

“After mowing ’em down for the first four innings or so, it seemed like he may have gotten a little tired,” said Coach Alan Ashinazy of Grimsley. “But he made it clear that he didn’t want to come out. He’s our ace and he’s been in that kind of situation before. Yes, he did struggle, but he managed to do all right.”

Grimsley, which cranked out 10 hits, bolted to what appeared to be a safe margin in its half of the fifth. Cody Walker hit a single to drive in a run and Aaron Jones greeted reliever Holt with a two-run double and Cal Suthpin followed up with a well-placed bunt on a squeeze play. Holt walked in another run and the Whirlies were clearly in command with a seven-run cushion.

“It helped that we got on them early,” Ashkinazy said. “We knew they would make a comeback because they hit the ball so well. We really helped ourselves by cutting down on our errors. When we do that, we can beat anybody.”

Grimsley 200 050 0 — 7 10 1
West Forsyth 000 023 0 — 5 9 2
Moore and Dimock. W. McBride, Holt and Carter. WP — Moore.LP — Robertson

 

Congratulations Alan. Congrats to you and the boys. Definitely a big win.

 

THANKS!

Thank You to everyone for all the positive feedback. That article was great. Good Luck to North Davidson on Friday. Hopefully we'll see you next Tuesday. COACH ASH

 

Great game, Coach. I know you are proud, as you should be. It sounds that the one ball hit by Holt had both teams at the edge of their seats...as well as you and Pope having near heart attacks.

Again, congratulations in beating one of the best teams in the state.

 

Bravo...

not much can rattle the Popester yet I don't really know what he felt like his team's chances were?!?!?

 

baseball gods

For one moment we thought the baseball gods were with us when Greg hit the bomb...... 1 mph wind, or 1 more inch, and he would have had a walk off home run. Congrats to the Whirlies.... for a hard fought game. Clint Moore did a Great job pitching, and there was no doubt that Grimsley came ready to play. Noone noticed the catcher, Chris Sanders who entered the game in the bottom of the 5th inning, and started the rally with the first hit of the game for West Forsyth and again, singled in the 6th posting 2 of the RBI's. He and the Holtman have been a great team all year. Congrats to the seniors...good luck Greg, Wes, Chad, Matt and John. We know you have great heart and talent and will do well at the next level. See you in Omaha!!!!! (John - see you in next year's Orange Bowl).