It was outplay, outwit, outlast for Stanhope Elmore versus Theodore on the baseball diamond Friday night.
In an opening game of the playoffs that took nearly four hours to complete, Stanhope came out on top, 12-7, then cruised to a 6-3 win in the second game to earn a sweep in the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs.
“Luke Payne pitched a great game (in Game 2),” SEHS coach DK Shuman said. “He’s really developed a cutter fastball, and that was giving them trouble. He was just mixing his cut fastball and his two-seam fastball and they weren’t sure which way the ball was going to go.”
Payne fired a two-hitter and went the complete game. He allowed just three runs, only two of which were earned, but his really impressive stat came in the strikeout column. He finished with 10 Ks, seven of which were looking.
“They were thinking it was going to be a cutter, then he would bring the two-seam back on them and it froze them up,” Shuman said. “He did a good job, though. He pounded the zone and outside of that one inning where he hit a guy and walked a guy, he didn’t give up any free bases other than that.”
Payne was backed up by an offense that did just enough damage to claim the victory. Jackson Stallworth led the hitting game with two singles.
Game 1 was much different though as Stanhope finished with 11 hits, including three from Romney Henry. Hayden Anderson, Jordan Jones and Brayden Smith each captured two hits.
On the mound, Tyler Woodham and Bryson Wright combined for the win, scattering four total hits.
Stanhope has now won 10 of its last 11 games and will travel to Helena for Round 2 of the postseason.
“They’re a really good team,” Shuman said. “Everybody you’re going to see at this point is going to be a good team. They’ve been tested and they’ve had their backs against the wall for two weeks in a row, and they found a way to win.”
Shuman said he has about six guys he feels comfortable plugging into the starting position and it’ll be a game-day decision. But he knows it’s going to come down to who can play the most disciplined, solid baseball.
“We’re gonna have to play good ball against them to be able to beat them,” Shuman said. “I think we got a chance against anybody, but it’s going to require us to play clean ball and not allow any freebies.”
