Crisp County sweeps Alexander to advance to state finals

CORDELE — Logan Carter tossed his glove in the air.

First-baseman Landon Whitman pumped his fists.

Then the Crisp County High School dugout stormed the field.

For the first time since capturing the school’s only state baseball championship in 1961, Crisp County will play for the Georgia High School Association Class AAAA state title following a sweep of visiting Alexander Monday afternoon.

Crisp took Game 1, 7-2, behind a complete-game gem from senior Taylor Walls. Then a pair of lefties in Stewart Tyler and Carter combined on a 3-0 shutout in the nightcap.

The Cougars advance to meet Region 5-AAAA champion Carrollton, who swept Veterans in the other Class AAAA semifinal on Monday.

But preparation for the state championship series will have to wait for just a little while – the Cougars want to enjoy this one.

Carter inherited a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth with one out, then recorded a strikeout and got a weak ground ball that Whitman scooped up and stepped on the bag to preserve the shutout.

Then in the bottom of the seventh after allowing a one-out walk, Carter struck out the final two batters to ignite a wild celebration.

“I have a good defense behind me,” Carter said. “There’s not much else to say. The team played great and we hit the ball well.”

Crisp’s performance wasn’t one to wow the average baseball fan, but it was good enough for the home crowd. The Cougars used solid pitching, timely hitting and excellent defense to advance to the state championship series. They took Game 1 by playing small-ball, scoring four runs in the third inning with the benefit of just one hit.

Then they blew open the game in fourth, grabbing a 6-0 lead on a pair of RBI doubles from Walls and Chris McGinnis.

Walls allowed just two runs on nine hits. With the exception of Alexander’s two runs in the sixth, Walls was nearly flawless.

Then in Game 2, Walls gave the Cougars the lead early when he led off with a single, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Bradley Hough’s sacrifice fly.

As it turned out, that run would have been enough behind Tyler, who was masterful until running into trouble in the sixth. Tyler also benefited from excellent defense, including an over-the-shoulder catch from second-baseman Witt Campbell to record the second out in the fifth inning.

Campbell’s catch also helped the Cougars turn a double-play and escape the fifth inning unscathed.

Then they added two insurance runs in the sixth before Carter took command.

“I have all the confidence in the world in that kid,” Crisp County coach Bill Pate said of Carter. “He’s closed out the last three series for us and I had no doubt that he would do it tonight.”

Carter’s save closed the door on a Cinderella Alexander team in the postseason, who had won its first three series in dramatic fashion, including an upset of preseason favorite Marist in the second round.

And after Crisp fell short in the state semifinals last season, Monday’s sweep couldn’t have been sweeter.

“I’m excited and I look forward (to the state championship series),” Pate said. “These seniors have worked so hard and they deserve to be here. They’ve worked their fannies off to get here.”