Bethlehem Christian takes decisive third game to grab GISA Class A championship

CORDELE — Cullen Brooks’ walk to join his teammates was a little slower than usual.

After watching Bethlehem Christian Academy players celebrate the Georgia Independent Schools Association’s Class A state championship Saturday following a 7-1 victory to take the best-of-three series, Brooks’ final walk for a postgame speech from Crisp Academy coaches outside the field must have seemed like a mile long.

“This hurts so badly, and it’s very hard (to take), especially being a senior,” Brooks said.

Some Wildcat players shed tears. Others watched disappointingly as Bethlehem players celebrated back-to-back titles in the Crisp Academy infield.

After sweeping through the GISA postseason with victories over Citizen’s Christian and David Emanuel, then taking Game 1 of the championship series on Friday, the 2014 season ended with two back-breaking defeats for the Wildcats, who ended the season as state runner-up for the second time in three years.

And Crisp Academy’s pursuit of its first state baseball title since 2011 will have to wait — at least for another year.

The Wildcats never seemed to regain their momentum after the Knights took Game 2 late Friday night when Crisp Academy’s rally fell just one run short in a 7-6 loss.

Bethlehem scratched home a run in the second inning on Saturday, then took the lead for good during an error-infested third inning. The Wildcats committed four miscues, including a pair of errors on Luke Allen’s RBI double that turned into an inside-the-park home run when Crisp threw the ball wildly around the infield, seemingly taking a play from the Bad News Bears’ playbook.

Then Bethlehem, playing as the home team, provided the clincher in the bottom of the sixth with three more runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead.

The way Allen was in control, mixing up his pitches and keeping Crisp Academy hitters off balanced with a biting curve ball and a series of offspeed pitches, that was more than enough run support.

“We’re not used to someone throwing that slow,” Brooks added.

The stocky right-hander allowed just six hits to earn the complete-game win with senior Jeff McKinney and Matt White collecting a pair of hits apiece. Greyson Farrow and William Purvis had the Wildcats’ other two.

Bethlehem led 4-0 before the Wildcats scored their only run. McKinney led off with a single and scored three batters later when Travis Turner reached on a fielder’s choice.

But Allen quickly got White to fly out to left field to end the mild threat.

A pair of players who were ejected after a play at the plate Friday night — Crisp’s James Wessel and Bethlehem’s Ryan Whiting — were able to play in Saturday’s final game after a mix-up between the umpires.

Wessel started the game and ended up with the loss after the Wildcats failed to muster any offense when they had runners in scoring position. Then, the four errors in the third inning stung the senior with a hard-luck loss.

“It’s hard to get on base when you’re not making them work for it,” Wessel said. “We seemed to hit it right where they were at everytime.”

While Allen was in control on the mound, his defense turned routine grounders and pop flies into outs, making very little mistakes for Crisp Academy to capitalize on.

“My hat is off to Bethlehem … they were flawless,” Crisp Academy coach Tim Harris said. “We ended up with five errors (Saturday). You have got to play defense to win championships.”

After Harris made his last postgame speech, the players slowly made their way back to the dugout. Shortstop Jake Smith took off his batting gloves and put them in his bag, then folded his arms while talking to a reporter.

“They outplayed us (Saturday),” said the soft-spoken Smith. “They got timely hits, and we didn’t respond with anything. I hate it. I would have rather gone out on top.”

So would the rest of the Crisp Academy community.