Indians Knock Lions Out of Playoffs
Lovelady Falls to Groveton in Three
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
EAST TEXAS – For the second consecutive year, the Groveton Indians have knocked the Lovelady Lions out of the playoffs.
In game one, the Indians prevailed by a score of 4-0. Game two saw the Lions bounce back to win a close one by a final of 5-4. Game three, unfortunately for Lovelady fans, belonged to Groveton as they blasted the Lions by a score of 16-6.
As the series got underway, Jay Thomas Robinson was on the bump for the Lions while Haden Terry got the start for the Indians.
Trent Torregrossa led off game one with a walk and moved to second on Saul Chavez’s sacrifice bunt. Terry followed with a single to left which advanced Torregrossa to third. Anthony Chavez popped up for the second out, but Ryan Luna singled to center to drive in Torregrossa.
Robinson got Braxton Terry to ground out to second to end the inning, but the Indians had drawn first blood and led by a score of 1-0.
H. Terry was on fire to open the game. He retired the side in order in the first as he got a fly out from Chad Fulgham, a groundout from Robinson and a swinging strike out from Logan Lowery.
A quiet second inning gave way to a three run third inning for Groveton, highlighted by H. Terry’s solo HR to lead off the inning.
After the Groveton half of the third, that was all the offense the Indians would need as they held on to win 4-0.
Game two was a different tale as the Lions jumped ahead of the Indians in the first inning and then hung on to win 5-4.
Fulgham led off the game with a solo jack off of Groveton starter Anthony Chavez to make the score 1-0 after three pitches.
Chavez then hit Robinson with a pitch. After a passed ball that advanced Robinson to second, Chavez settled down to retire Logan Lowery on a fly ball to left and Carter Murray on a ground out to third.
Taylor Womack followed in the order and ripped a double into center to drive in Robinson and make the score 2-0.
Murray got the start for Lovelady and worked a quick first inning as he retired the side in order.
After a quiet second inning, the Indians cut the Lovelady lead in half as Bobby Swanson was hit by a pitch and came around to score when Torregrossa fouled out down the first base line.
The Lions got the run back in the top of the fourth when Womack led off with a single. He advanced to second on a groundout from Ethan Tullos and moved to third when Tim Johnson also grounded out.
A passed ball on strike three allowed Mason Phillips to beat the throw to first and gave Womack the opportunity to sprint home to make the score 3-1.
The Lions made a pitching change made way through the fourth inning and brought in Fulgham. He managed to keep the Indians off the scoreboard and then handed the game over to the Lovelady offense in the top of the fifth.
Lowery led off with a single and moved to third on a double from Murray. Womack was up next and grounded out to second but on the play, Lowery scampered home and made the score 4-1. Murray moved up a base on the play and he scored on a Tullos single into center.
That was all the scoring until the seventh inning as the Indians plated three runs to cut the lead to one. Fortunately, as Fulgham began to fade down the stretch, Robinson came on in relief to record the final out as the Lions hung on to win game two by a final of 5-4.
Game three saw the Lions jump out early as they grabbed a 3-1 lead after the first inning of play. They added another run in the top of the third to make the score 4-1, but then the wheels fell off for Lovelady.
The Indians scored eight times in the bottom of the third and four more times in the fourth to open up a 13-6 lead as they held on to defeat the Lions by a final of 16-6. The win also gave the Indians the series victory, 2-1.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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