E.A. Sports Today

Ford tough

Ford drives Donoho to victory over White Plains, throws six strong innings, hits two homers
 
BASEBALL
Cherokee County 10, Cleburne County 5
Clay Central 8, Handley 7
Donoho 10, White Plains 5
Ragland 10, Coosa Christian 7
Spring Garden 19-12, JCA 1-1
Calhoun County Tournament
Oxford 2, Alexandria 0
 
By East Alabama Sports Today
 
There wasn’t a lot Seth Ford didn’t do for the Donoho baseball team Tuesday afternoon.
 
Ford gave his team six good innings on the mound and hit two home runs, including a grand slam, off two different pitchers to lift the Falcons over White Plains 10-5.
 
Ford hit a two-run homer “I wasn’t expecting to hit” in the third inning to put the Falcons ahead 3-2 and hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch in the sixth to make it 10-3. He had a two-homer game, including a green-light grand slam, last year against Victory Christian on the day of Donoho’s prom.
 
“It’s a pretty big deal for a 1A school to beat a 4A school and that only comes from the whole team working together and playing their hardest for each other,” Ford said. “My defense had my back the whole game making no errors. That gave me the confidence I needed on the mound.
 
“Offensively, the team did great. We had a lot of timely hitting that allowed us to score runs. The first home run I wasn’t expecting to hit; I was just focused on getting a base hit to get us back in the game. The grand slam was obviously a pretty awesome feeling. It was a 3-0 count and (Donoho coach Steve Gendron) gave me the green light. I told myself if it was my pitch I was taking it deep.”
 
Ford hit his slam after Tyler Allen opened the inning with a walk, Charlie Willamon dropped a bunt single and Ty Mclean drew a one-out walk. 
 
“Grand slams aren’t possible without timely hits by your teammates to fill the bases,” Ford said. “Everybody on the team did their part today and that’s why we came out with a win.”
 
White Plains’ Brendan Roper homered in the fifth to cut Donoho’s lead to 4-3 and drove in a pair of runs in the game. Jaden Chatman went 3-for-4 and Coleman Messer had two hits for White Plains.
 
Donoho 10, White Plains 5
White Plains  011 010 2 – 5 7 2
Donoho           003 124 x – 10 7 0
WP:  Seth Ford. LP: Ethan Gobel. 2B: Jaden Chatman (W), Hall Billings (D). HR: Brendan Roper (W), Seth Ford 2 (D).
 
Cherokee County 10, Cleburne County 5: Carson Garrett broke a 5-5 tie with a two-run single that capped a five-run fifth inning for the Warriors. Winning pitcher Ethan Tillery squeezed home the tying run. Garrett, Ethan Johnson and Jayleon Henderson had three hits apiece for Cherokee County. Noah Lindsey went 3-for-4 and Devin Hicks and Hunter Cavender each had two hits for the Tigers.
 
Spring Garden 19-12, JCA 1-1: Colby Slayton went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs in the doubleheader for the Panthers. He had a triple, homer and three RBIs in the 19-1 game and went 3-for-3 with four RBIs in the 12-1 game. Chaz Pope was 4-for-4 in the doubleheader, Luke Ivey was 4-for-5 with four RBIs and Kenneth Petty was 4-for-5.
 
Clay Central 8, Handley 7: Back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Carter Young and Clay Yates with none out capped a three-run seventh-inning rally that lifted the homestanding Vols to victory. The Vols trailed 7-5 going into their last bats, sent six batters to the plate and all six reached. Kris Wentzell singled home the first run of the rally.
 
 

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