Shelton tosses one-hitter for EC in JV game, freshman hold off late Whitewater rally

The East Coweta Indians seemed to have the Whitewater Wildcats’ number Thursday night as they were victorious in the freshman and junior varsity games played Thursday at Sharpsburg.

In the freshman game, the Indians had to hold off a late rally to come away with a 6-4 victory while the junior varsity ended their 2017 season with a 10-0 five-inning win to support the one hit pitching of Nolan Shelton.

The freshman (15-4-1) will end their season Friday night in LaGrange with a game against the Troup County Tigers while the junior varsity won their 10^th game in the last dozen to finish with a 14-7 record.

Caleb Cashion adjusts his helmet after his triple in the third
inning of the freshman game. Cashion played in both games
and went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for the day.

In the freshman game, the Indians took the lead early as Jonathan Williams led off the bottom of the first inning with a single followed by a stolen base and advanced to third before coming home on a sacrifice fly to right field by Tanner Floyd.

Whitewater tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning but EC came back in the bottom of the frame to reclaim the lead as starting pitcher Caleb Cashion singled, advanced to second on a balk and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a double by Jacob Burgess.

Keegan Rich followed with a walk and Levi Wilson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for JJ Freed who hit a sacrifice fly to right field that brought Burgess home from third.

An error by the Wildcats shortstop allowed Rich and Wilson to come home and give the Indians a 5-1 lead.

The Indians added one more run to the total in the bottom of the third inning as Cashion reached on a one out triple and came home on a single by Burgess.

However, the game became tight as the Wildcats came back with three runs in the top of the fourth to cut the margin to 6-4 but Evan Fuller entered the game in relief to end the frame and despite having the tying run on second with one out was able to end the game on a groundout to first and flyball to Freed in center field to end the game and earn the save.

Cashion pitched the first two innings for the win.

Nolan Shelton lookls in for a sign by catcher Tanner Floyd
as he faces Zach Lischner. Shelton allowed one single in
five innings.

In the junior varsity contest, both teams were scoreless in the first inning but the Indians took the lead in the bottom of the second inning as Bryan Crow reached on a fielder’s choice and stole two bases before coming home on a double to left by Cashion.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Indians added to the lead when Myles Dowell reached on an infield single and moved to third on a single by Trevor Crowdis before scoring on a single to left by Ethan Walker.

The game remained close as neither team scored in the fourth inning but EC would strike in the bottom of the fifth inning with 10 batters going to the plate and eight coming home.

Walker reached on a walk and a pitching change was made by Whitewater before Brayden Carey and Tanner Floyd had consecutive singles to load the bases for Crow.

An infield error allowed Walker and Carey to score to increase the lead to 4-0 and after a pair of outs appeared to get the Wildcats out of the frame, the Indians continued to score.

A bases loaded walk to Crowdis allowed Crow to score and Peyton Ramey made the contest a blowout as he cleared the bases with a double to left field before scoring the final run on a single by Walker.

Walker finished the evening by going 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and two RBIs while Crow stole four bases and Holden had a single and two walks.

The beneficiary of the support was Shelton who as denied a no hitter by a fourth inning single by Whitewater starting pitcher Zach Mills.