By JAY TIDWELL/Sports Writer

NEW ALBANY – Zach Gory was determined to finish this one. And he’s ready for the next one, too, even if this one got away.

Pontotoc’s sophomore starting pitcher saw another outstanding pitching performance go down without a win, as the Warriors fell 2-1 to Tishomingo County last Tuesday morning in its opening game of the Championship Rounds of the Northeast Mississippi Coaches Association for Better Baseball tournament at New Albany.

The loss ended the summer season for the Warriors, who are fresh off their second straight Region 1-4A regular season title.

Gory, a left-hander, went the full seven innings against North Pontotoc in last week’s regional tournament at South Pontotoc, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

But it looked as if Gory might not be able to finish this one.

Gory was hit by a pitch on his throwing arm to lead off the bottom of the sixth. With the teams tied 1-1, Pontotoc head coach Phil Webb then sent hard-throwing Ethan Gill to warm up for Tish County’s next at bat.

"I wanted the ball," Gory said afterwards." Coach Webb sent Gill out to warm up in the sixth inning when I got hit by a pitch and I told him, ‘Don’t take me out. This is the one I wanted.’"

Gory returned to finish the match. But a victory eluded him again.

The seventh inning

A combination of miscues in the top of the seventh led to the decisive run.



Gory struck out the first batter and induced a fly out to center by the next, but things came unraveled after that.



Tishomingo County’s Gable Butler was hit by a pitch. He advanced to third on a stolen base and a passed ball, and scored on an infield fielding error.

"We definitely didn’t make it tough for them," Webb said.

After the series of misplays, Webb said he told the team to simply focus on reaching base in the bottom of the seventh.

"We were just asking for a guy to get on base and give us a chance. Have a runner at second base with two out and give us a chance to tie it up or win it," Webb said.

"We had three good at bats. Both batters started out 0-2, worked it to full count and fouled a couple off. The first guy popped up, the next guy lined out to center, then Gill drove one deep to the centerfield wall.

"We had three good at bats there, and you can’t argue with that," Webb added.

Missed opportunities

Lawrence Rakestraw opened the game for Pontotoc with a triple in the bottom of the first and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Blake Davis. But the Warriors were unable to muster any more offense.

"I thought I had a great defensive effort behind me through it all," Gory said. "Straw (Rakestraw) made a bunch of good catches out there for me.

"I thought we hit the ball well today," Gory added. "Gill drove that ball to centerfield and (Steven) Sexton hit the ball really well. We couldn’t get the two-out hit when we needed it, and that’s tough."

The Warriors were also unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position, leaving runners at third in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

"They gave us a chance to win the baseball game, but we didn’t make the plays behind him,” Coach Webb said.”we didn’t swing the bat and give him any run support.”

Even with the loss, Gory said the squad is looking forward to next season.

"We’ve heard so much that, ‘You’re going to be a sub-par team. You’ve lost so many seniors it’s going to be a rebuilding year’" Gory said.



"But one thing this summer was to prove to people that we’re here. We’ve got two seniors and a bunch of juniors and sophomores, and we’ve been waiting a while to do this. And we’re just ready to get out there.

"We’re hungry to play baseball."