Deerfield-Windsor heads to State championship series in Statesboro

ALBANY — For three days, Deerfield-Windsor baseball lived in the mud, the rain and the tension of a season hanging by a thread.

On Sunday afternoon, the Knights finally burst through it all.

With parents lining the fences, fans packed shoulder-to-shoulder behind the backstop and the energy around the field building inning by inning, Deerfield-Windsor pounded Frederica Academy 8-1 to win the GIAA Class AAA semifinal series and punch its ticket to next week’s state championship series at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.

And by the middle innings Sunday, it no longer felt like merely another playoff game.

It felt like a program announcing itself.

“It was an awesome job today, but we are not finished,” Deerfield-Windsor head coach Kyle Keen said. “We’ve got two more games to win.”

After surviving a chaotic weekend filled with weather delays, muddy field conditions and two tense games Saturday, the Knights came out Sunday looking nothing like a tired team.

Frederica briefly grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Braxton Sykes drew a bases-loaded walk.

The lead barely had time to settle in.

Lane Sceals opened the bottom of the inning with a walk before David Hutchins ripped a double to center field, sending Sceals racing home to tie the game. Moments later, Gabe Daniel grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Hutchins and pushed Deerfield-Windsor ahead for good.

Then the floodgates opened.

After Frederica threatened again in the second inning, Deerfield-Windsor turned one of three double plays that electrified the home crowd. Hutchins handled a ground ball at shortstop, flipped to second baseman West Rushton and Rushton completed the throw to Daniel at first to end the inning.

Seconds later, the Knights delivered the knockout punch.

Boyd Pollock, Sceals, Hutchins and Gage Tomlinson strung together consecutive singles before Collins Clark blasted a two-run double to center field. Frederica changed pitchers, but Daniel greeted the new arm with another RBI double to right as Deerfield-Windsor exploded for five runs in the inning and seized a commanding 7-1 lead.

By then, the celebration had already begun around the ballpark.

Parents hugged along the fence line. Students screamed from behind the dugout. Players bounced in and out of the top step after every big hit as Deerfield-Windsor moved within sight of Statesboro.

The Knights added another run in the third when Tomlinson lined an RBI single down the left field line to make it 8-1.

That was more than enough support for the pitching staff.

Tomlinson gave Deerfield-Windsor four strong innings on the mound, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out four before turning the game over to Sceals, who worked the final three scoreless innings to close out the series-clinching victory.

Hutchins finished with three hits while Clark, Hutchins, Tomlinson and Daniel each drove in two runs. Sceals and Daniel helped fuel Deerfield-Windsor’s aggressive attack on the bases as the Knights stole six bases during the game.

The victory capped one of the wildest playoff weekends in recent Deerfield-Windsor history.

Friday’s scheduled opener had been postponed by thunderstorms, leaving Saturday’s doubleheader to be played on a soft, muddy infield before the teams finally settled the series Sunday afternoon. Frederica captured Game 1 Saturday 5-4 before Deerfield-Windsor answered behind a complete-game performance from Clark in a 4-2 victory that forced the decisive Game 3.

Now the Knights are headed to Statesboro with a state championship suddenly within reach.

And after everything Deerfield-Windsor endured this weekend — the rain, the pressure, the momentum swings and the exhaustion — Sunday felt like more than a semifinal victory.

It felt like the kind of afternoon people around Deerfield-Windsor will remember for a long time.