Maplesville eliminates Billingsley, advances to third round
By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser
With a 13-0 win over Billingsley in Round 2 of the Class 1A state baseball playoffs, Maplesville advances to take on J.U. Blacksher in the third round.
Play was postponed in the top of the fourth inning on Friday evening with Maplesville leading 7-0.
Game 2 resumed at noon on Saturday, and the Red Devils picked up right where they left off.
A leadoff walk to Trevor Wallace and a single by Thaddeus Hunter set up a two RBI single by Aaron Dunkin.
Singles by Trent Smith and a Bears error on a ball hit by Thomas Schoener led to a two RBI double by Drew Smith.
An RBI ground ball by Alex Smith and an RBI single by Devan Wallace gave Maplesville a 13-0 lead.
A single by Cole Donaldson and Walker Motley saw both be left stranded after a pair of strikeouts by the Bears in the home half of the fourth.
A double by Dunkin in the top of the fifth did little to help the Red Devils as a ground ball and a strikeout sent the game to the bottom of the fifth with Billingsley facing a do-or-die situation.
Down to their final three outs, a leadoff walk by Jamie Barnett was all the Bears could muster as three fly balls resulted in three Billingsley outs to send the Red Devils on to Round 3 of the playoffs.
Schoener led the Red Devils at the plate by going 3-for-4 with three singles.
Alex Smith handled the pitching for Maplesville and threw a five-inning shutout with three hits, two walks and nine strikeouts.
Eric Willis, Donaldson and Motley each had hits for the Bears while Barnett got the start on the mound and threw four innings with 12 hits, eight earned runs, five walks and eight strikeouts.