Story By Heath Hambrick
What a night for the Fort Payne Wildcat baseball team. Friday night the Wildcats hosted the Muscle Shoals Trojans in the first round of the 6A state playoffs. Fort Payne took both games from the Trojans 5-2 and 11-2 to move on to the second round for the first time since 2015.
In game one Muscle Shoals took an early 1-0 lead after the top half of the second inning. The lead was short-lived as the Wildcats answered in the bottom half of the inning starting with a leadoff single from Griffin Winn. After the next two Fort Payne batters both had flyouts in center field, senior Luke Patton stepped into the plate. Patton quickly faced an 0-2 count when he hit a line drive to center field that allowed Winn to score. Kyle Caminiti was the next batter and drew a walk for Muscle Shoals ace Dylan Olive. With two runners on and two outs Fort Payne’s Carson Lilly doubled off the right field wall that scored Patton and Caminiti. Brannon Oliver also recorded a single in the inning. Ryker Shankles ended the inning with a pop-out to short. After two innings Fort Payne led 3-1 after a two-out rally.
After a quick Muscle Shoals half-inning in the top of the third produced nothing for the Trojans, Blake Griggs started it off for the Wildcats with a ground ball single to third. After a ground out to short from Winn, Malcolm Jackson made his first appearance on base after being hit by a pitch from Muscle Shoals Olive. Luke Patton drew a walk to load the bases for Fort Payne and the very next batter, Kyle Caminiti also drew a walk that scored Griggs. The inning ended with Lily hitting a ground out to the pitcher. Fort Payne was able to extend its lead to 4-1.
The Muscle Shoals bats were again unable to mustard up any production in the top half of the fourth. Heading into the bottom of the fourth Muscle Shoals ace Dylan Olive was closing in on a hundred pitches for the game and had only pitched three innings. The Fort Payne lineup was able to push the junior pitcher to the brink and you could see the frustration building for Olive as he continued to throw in the bottom of the fourth. Fort Payne in the bottom half of the fourth got a leadoff walk from Brannon Oliver and two more walks from Griggs and Winn to load the bases with only one out. Olive for the Trojans by this point had reached 107 pitches and forced the Muscle Shoals coaches to make a change. Jayden Jackson earned first base coming by way of a hit by a pitch that allowed Oliver to score what turned out to be the final run scored of the game. Fort Payne took game one 5-2.
Muscle Shoals out hit Fort Payne 8-2 but the Wildcats used a small ball and three errors from the Trojans to put game one away in the series. Griffin Winn picked up the win with all seven innings pitched and recorded six strikeouts.
Game two started with Fort Payne being the away team on the scoreboard and this game had a little bit of everything before it was all said and done.
In the top of the first Brannon Oliver recorded a leadoff double to center field. Then a sacrifice bunt by Ryker Shankles over Oliver to third led to a single from Blake Griggs and Oliver scored to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead after one.
After leaving the bases loaded in the top of the second and unable to push a run across, Muscle Shoals tied the game after the bottom of the second. In the top of the fourth Fort Payne blows the cover off the baseball. To start the inning Kyle Caminiti drew a walk, then a single by Carson Lilly put Caminiti in a tough spot and was called out at second. The next batter Brannon Oliver drew a walk to put runners on first and second, Ryker Shankles singles to left field and score Lilly. Blake Griggs stepped into the batter’s box and hit a triple off the left fence that scored Oliver and Shankles.
Muscle Shoals made a pitching change and during that time the tension and emotion boiled over a bit with fans and players causing the umpires to bring together the two Head Coaches to calm things down. After all of that looked to be settled, Griffin Winn singled to third base and scored another run for the Wildcats. Fort Payne extended its lead to 5-1 after the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, the Fort Payne defense made its best play of the night turning a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning with no runs scored.
The Trojans added a run in the bottom of the fifth but the home-standing Wildcats answered in the of the sixth with a leadoff home run from Blake Griggs, his third of the year. The frustration of the Trojans showed up again when the coaches and players tried to argue a call with the umpires which led to the catcher for Muscle Shoals being tossed from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. Fort Payne scored three more runs in the inning to extend the lead to 9-2.
In the top of the seventh, after a lead-off ground out by Ryker Shankles, Blake Griggs doubled to center field and with that hit completed the cycle in one game for a batter. The next batter was Griffin Winn and he smashed the ball off the left field fence for his sixth home run of the season and extended the Wildcat lead to 11-2.
Brannon Oliver earned the win pitching five innings and recording four strikeouts. Ryker Ingle pitched the final two innings and recorded four strikeouts. Blake Griggs led the Wildcats at the plate going 4-5, 4 RBI, and 3 runs scored.
“That was fun, two big wins, our guys had a great week of practice. We hit that lull in the middle of the season, the guys stand with it and here we are. The Buckhorn games last week were perfect for us because this is a long night, when you have to be locked in for 14 innings, it’s a lot. Our guys did well.” said Fort Payne Head Coach, Eric Varnadore. “Griffin Winn pitched outstanding during the first game. In the second game, the four-inning has been our inning. Blake Griggs hit for the outstanding circle and to turn already and see all the people from Fort Payne who were here supporting these guys, that’s huge.”
Fort Payne improved its record to 20-11 and moved on to the second round of the 6A playoffs. The Wildcats will host the Gardendale Rockets on Friday night.
“I can't say enough about the job my coaching staff has done this week getting these guys locked in and ready, Coach Jones and Coach Croft spent hours pouring over data and watching film. Their effort and the information they gathered and shared with the players put us way ahead. “said Coach Varnadore.
