Vidalia Sweeps Callaway Cavaliers

The Vidalia High School Indians and the Callaway Cavaliers met at Greg James Field for a double header in the 3rd Round (Elite 8) of the 2-A State Playoffs Tuesday afternoon. There were two entirely different ball games played, but the results were the same as the Indians won both games. The first game was a pitcher’s duel with the Indians claiming a 2-0 win. Game two was all Indians as they took a run rule 5 inning game by a score of 17-0 to move on to the semifinals (Final Four). The two wins moved the Indians to a season record of 26-9 and gives them a 22 game winning streak.

Game 1

This was a great pitcher’s duel with Bryson Whited pitching a complete game 2-0 shutout for the win. It was Whited’s 7th straight win. He scattered five hits over the 7 innings in a dominating performance. The Indians didn’t generate much offense themselves as only Moncus, Graham and Dalley managed to get hits.

There was no score through the top of the 4th inning. In the bottom half Dalley led off with a double , moving to third on a single by Graham and then Moncus was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Walden and Spivey hit sacrifice fly balls to score Dalley and Graham making it 2-0 Indians after four complete. That was all Whited needed as he gave up only one hit over the last three innings to secure the win.

Game 2

This was an entirely different ball game for the Indians offense but no change for the Cavaliers as the Indian pitching and defense dominated them again. The Indians' bats came alive pounding out 11 hits including 5-doubles, 1-triple and 2-homeruns to put 17 runs on the board and win going away. Caden Spivey started on the mound for the Indians, pitching three dominating innings and allowing no hits in picking up his 6th straight win. Jordan Walden pitched the 4th inning allowing one hit, and Kevin Cox pitched a quick and easy bottom of the 5th inning getting a strikeout for the final out of the game.

The Indian offense was led by Dalley, Walden and Spivey with two hits each. Walden(4), Bennett(3), Cox(3), Graham(2), Moncus( 1) and Davis(1) all had RBI’s for the Indians. In the top of the 1st inning Whited got a leadoff walk, Dalley singled with Graham reaching on an error by the shortstop allowing Whited to score. After a strike out Walden drew a walk loading the bases. After another strikeout Bennett rifled a bases clearing triple into the right field corner putting the Indians up 4-0 going to the bottom half. After Spivey set the Cavaliers down 1,2,3, the Indian offense went right back to work. The top of the 2nd inning started with a strike out, but then Whited was hit by a pitch. Dalley followed with a double putting runners on second and third. Graham got an RBI single followed by an RBI ground out by Moncus. Walden followed with a long three run homer making the score 9-0, and the rout was on. Again Spivey had no trouble in the bottom half leaving the score at 9-0 after two complete innings.

The Indians picked up three more runs in the top of the 3rd inning, led by doubles from Banks and Davis. Spivey shut down the Cavalier offense for the third straight inning putting the Indians on top by a 12-0 score. The Indians were able to pick up one run in the top of the 4th inning, and Walden came on in relief to once again slam the door shut on the Cavaliers. The Indians closed the scoring with 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning with the big blow being a three run homer by Cox. With the Indians up 17-0, Cox came on to slam the door shut in the bottom half preserving the second shutout of the night for the Indian pitching staff. The Indians played excellent defense in both games handling 33 plays in the field to go with eight strikeouts while committing no errors. Good defense, good pitching and good hitting are hard to beat. This week VHS is in the Final 4 against Lovett. They split their games on Monday of this week and played the deciding game on Tuesday at VHS. If the Indians won that game they will move on to play Thomasville in a best-of-three series for the State Championship beginning next Monday. The Championship will be held at JI Clements Field at Georgia Southern University.

Hughes Graham puts the bat on the ball for the Indians as they battled with Callaway at home in the Elite 8.Photo by Carroll Williams