Madison Academy ‘doubles’ down in 3A playoffs, advances to second round on Friday
FAIRVIEW — The number two can allude to many things.
For gamblers there’s two pairs. Outdoors enthusiasts have a bicycle built for two. Multitaskers can kill two birds with one stone. The common idioms seem endless.
But for Madison Academy on Friday, it meant securing a berth in Round 2 of the Class 5A state playoffs following a 12-5 win over Fairview in Game 3 of a best-of-three series.
The Mustangs got three two-run doubles from Walker Sellars in his first three at-bats for a total six RBIs to lead an offense that pounded out 13 hits and staked the pitching staff/defense to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings.
“It’s just like we talked about last night – I knew we had to come out and swing the bats well,’’ Madison Academy head coach David Pressley said a day after the Mustangs collected just five hits in each game of a 1-6, 6-3 doubleheader split Thursday.
“It does a lot to take the pressure off. (Thursday) the pitchers had to be really fine and buttoned up. So to come out early in this game and score right out of the gate was huge for us just to be able to loosen up and play well.’’
The eight-ranked Mustangs (23-12) will host Boaz (24-9) beginning Friday.
Staying in script Friday, Chase Harris-Lambert had two doubles for the Mustangs. He also had an RBI and run scored. But leadoff hitter Pearson Blue broke from the day’s theme, going 3-for-3 with an RBI and three stolen bases. He did, however, score two runs.
Other Mustangs stayed true to the narrative.
Truett Austin had two runs scored and two stolen bases along with a hit. Grady Moore had two hits, two stolen bases and an RBI. Chris Whetstone had two hits, two walks and three runs scored.
Pressley said Sellars “having a game like that was big time,’’ Blue set the tone at the top of the lineup and “a lot of other guys provided support, so there were a lot of good at-bats.’’
Starting pitcher Cole Norris went six innings against Fairview (21-16), allowing seven hits with six strikeouts and no walks. He was tagged with five runs, but only two were earned.
