Sports

Lee’s White, Hood make season-saving 1-2 punch

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — When Howell White began warming up for Game 2 of Lee County’s Elite Eight doubleheader with Salem on Tuesday, he knew his team’s season and his career stood seven innings from elimination.

The Trojans were asking his left arm to stave it off.

And his arm wasn’t cooperating.

“(Tuesday) before the game, I didn’t feel the best,” White said.

Six innings, nine strikeouts, two runs, five allowed hits and one heroic pitching performance later, nobody noticed.

White’s gem in the 10-2 nightcap delivered a deciding third game after the Trojans were rocked on their heels, 12-3, the opener on Tuesday.

He may not have felt great before taking the mound, but after leaving it those feelings were long gone.

“I think this one was the best (this year),” White said. “A lot of the times I come out here and feel really, really good but don’t throw the best. Sometimes when I don’t feel the best I throw a lot of strikes — all my stuff was working.”

Nobody had a better view for the performance than catcher Zach Hood.

“Howell was on (Tuesday night),” Hood said. “He was hitting his spots and hitting it with velocity. And he was pitching; he wasn’t throwing, but pitching. He was knowing how to get them out, not just once, but several times through the lineup. He was getting a lot of ground balls and doing what he does best.”

What White started, Hood ended.

After watching his team fight and claw to scratch out three runs in the opener, Hood broke off the bench like the frustrated on-looker he was. His two-run single in the first inning set the tone and the his two-run double in the seventh inning put a tidy exclamation point on a wild day of baseball in Leesburg.

“I have really been working on my hitting and it was great to pick us up and pick myself up,” Hood said. “Now we go home and we celebrate a little but we got one more to play. We get some rest and come back (today) ready to win it.”

SCARY MOMENT

At the end of the sixth inning of Game 2, White picked up an errant throw tossed to Hood at home hoping to throw out baserunner Jonathon Brewer sprinting for home.

Brewer slid in, but his head crashed into the thighs of Hood blocking the plate.

After the dust cleared and he was ruled out to end the inning, he still lay relatively motionless on the ground near the plate.

Lee County trainers and staff came out and held Brewer’s head still while calling for an ambulance. Most of the actions taken were precautionary.

Brewer was eventually taken away after a 20-minute delay that included both teams gathering to pray at the mound.

“The staff here at Lee County was great,” Salem coach Chris Davis said. “He is one of our top outfielders and one of our seniors. He means a lot.”

OUT OF THE GAME

In the opener, Salem center fielder Drew Dentler paced his team and terrorized the Trojans, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two knocked in.

In the Game 2, however, he not only took away his services Tuesday, but for today’s decisive Game 3.

After a controversial call turned what Salem thought was a home run by Dustin Dunlop into a triple, Dentler came up to bat next steaming.

After he didn’t like a call third strike, he stormed off, threw his bat and helmet. He was promptly ejected by the home plate umpire.

His ejection, by rule, keeps him out of Game 3.

Admittedly, the entire inning rattled Davis’ team.

“It is something you got to put behind you,” he said. “We didn’t at the time. I think because we were behind. It is almost like we got a spark and even though the guy scored, it felt like it was put out.”

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