Simmons gave up a single, the lead-off batter to open the game, but sat down eight straight Blue Tornado before a double in the fourth ended the streak. The Walker Valley lefty finished the first with two strike outs and fanned the side in the second. He gave up only one walk after the game was virtually decided in the seventh.
“He had his hook working. He looked like a million dollars tonight. It was a really good outing for him, and we have a lot of confidence in him on the mound,” Mustangs coach Joe Shamblin said of his winning pitcher
“We also played good defensively. I think we had one error. We had eight hits tonight. I’m glad to see that. It took us a while to get going, but once we did the hits came in bunches.”
It took three innings for the Mustangs to put their first run on the board.
Josh Poole opened with a walk and courtesy runner Austin Scott moved up on a Bobby Towne single. Walker Valley broke the deadlock on the second hit of the inning, a single down the right-field line by Chris Caffrey.
McCallie tied the game in the top half of the fourth only to watch as the Mustangs came back to take a 2-1 lead on a Jake Ward double. Ward later scored on a wild pitch to put Walker Valley up by one.
The Mustangs stayed hot in the bottom of the fifth using a walk, two McCallie errors and back-to-back-to-back singles by Caleb Longley, Logan Longwith and Ward to take a 5-1 lead.
The Mustangs added a little insurance in their next at bat when Jared Broome singled and later scored on a wild pitch. Towne trotted to first after being hit by a pitch and raced home on a fielder’s choice. Longley padded the cushion even more with a triple to left center to put Walker Valley out front 8-1.
A walk and a single in the top of the seventh produced nothing for the Blue Tornado as Simmons and company closed out the win.
“We are starting to pick it up at the plate. We are still not where we need to be yet, but we’ve got a couple of weeks left to go in the regular season. Hopefully, we’ll be where we need to be when the district tournament starts.”
MUSTANGS 8 BLUE TORNADO 1
McCallie 000 100 0 — 1 3 2
Walker Valley 001 133 x — 8 8 1
WP: Matthew Simmons, 13 Ks. LP: Winston Whitener. 3B: Caleb Longley (WV). 2B: Kade McGlohon (M); Jake Ward (WV). Highlights: Longley 2-3, Ward 2-2 (WV); McGlohon 2-3 (M). Records: McCallie 5-8; Walker Valley 13-6.
