HS Baseball: Reversal of Fortunes for Shady Spring & PikeView

Going from the penthouse to the outhouse, and vice versa, in Class AAA Region 3 baseball can happen in blink.

The fall can definitely happen in a span of a week.

Case in point, PikeView and Shady Spring.

Heading into the week as the No. 1 ranked team in AAA, and sporting an 11-1 record, the Panthers were staring down a golden opportunity to add four crucial regional wins to its resume.

Unfortunately for the young men from Gardner, it was not a good week, dropping all four games. Along with the frustration of losing, it was also a week that exposed some concerning flaws in regards to possible upcoming postseason success.

"We are just not making plays right now. We are definitely a team, this entire week, that has been meek," PikeView head coach Josh Wyatt said Saturday. "We are not moving. We are not moving when balls aren't hit to us. We are not backing up stuff. We are not in position. Therefore, we are playing flat-footed."

PikeView was haunted all week by big innings, early deficits and defensive errors.

The downward spiral started in Coal City where Independence took a 6-1 lead after the first inning on the way to an 8-5 win.

"We were just stagnate getting off of the bus," Wyatt said after the setback. "In our two losses this year, we have given up those big innings to lead off the game."

Wednesday Greenbrier East plated three runs before PikeView came to bat, aided by a first inning error. The mistake followed a lead-off double from the Spartans who scored all three runs with two outs later in the inning.

After combing for five errors in the first two games of the week, the Panthers committed five more against Sissonville in a 9-1 loss Friday. The Indians led 7-0 after scoring four runs in the third inning. The third frame started with an error, a walk and a three-run homer.

"It is worrisome and we are not going to hide that because we can't get out of the "woe is me," Wyatt said. "That is truly what it is. We are not reacting to situations. We are still thinking about what happened two innings ago."

The situation went from bad to worse against Shady Spring Saturday in an 18-10 loss to the Tigers.

An error on a routine play to open the game gave Shady an extra out which led to a two-out grand slam and a 5-0 deficit. PikeView committed five additional errors in the loss.

"It is a "want to." That mentality that we had at the beginning of the year," Wyatt said. "Just like the Christiansburg game. The best team that I have coached against since I have been here. We were making plays all over the field. That mentality of wanting the ball every time is not there. In return, it makes you scared to make a play. We are better than this."

Even more concerning was the fact that three of the four losses came at home and two with PikeView ace, Eli Hilling on the mound.

Wyatt talked about the main cause of the four-game slide from his perspective.

"We had that brotherhood early where they were cheering for each other. I don't want to hide this. We can make three errors, then have a big hit and we are fine," Wyatt lamented. "We are happy about it. We went from a team that was supporting one another, to a team that was more focused with I have done this, or I have done that."

Clearly a team with a roster that can get PikeView back to the state baseball tournament, the question becomes, can the Panthers right the ship before the postseason run in early May?

The answer may come this week when PikeView makes it annual trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a week of baseball and hopefully, team re-building.

"There are some struggles there with the brotherhood," Wyatt said. "We need to be in the beach house and learn to fight together and fight for one another, rather than fight against each other all the time."

Shady Spring, on the other hand, has been trending up, way up.

Following a 3-7 start, the Tigers have won seven straight, outscoring opponents nearly 16-5 over that stretch.

"At the beginning of the year, we were cold and just trying to find ways to score. This is the best I have seen them hit all year," Shady Spring head coach Kendrick Epling said Saturday. "We are just working on line drives up the middle. Get people on and advancing them to second base. If I can get my guys to second base, that puts pressure on the pitcher to throw certain pitches. In high school baseball, they are scared to throw a breaking ball when they have runners at second base."

The win streak started at Summers County with a slight line-up change by the first year high school head coach.

"We changed our line-up right when we got the streak (going). We moved Cutter (Boggs) from lead-off to third and it has been a game changer ever since," Epling said. "I think we have done a really good job of advancing our guys to second base and then having that timely hitting to get them in."

Four of the seven wins for the Tigers have been against regional foes. Three of them, Nicholas County, Princeton and PikeView have occurred on the road.

Playing in a region that has nine teams this year, five ranked in the top-12 AAA teams in the state, regional wins carry even more importance during the regular season.

"We lost to Ripley, (Herbert) Hoover and Greenbrier East. We started out 0-3 in the region," Epling said. "Especially in this region, you don't want that eight (seed versus) nine (seed) play-in game. Everybody has to throw their dog and then they get, probably, Ripley. Getting these regional wins to not have that play-in game is huge."

The question for Shady Spring is, have the Tigers peaked too soon? It is clearly a concern for the Shady Spring coach.

"Hats off to guys for staying hot, but I am scared of being hot right now," Epling said. "I want to be hot May 11. If you can get hot for eight games in May, the community will be happy with us."

Shady Spring is on the road at Woodrow Wilson (Monday), Greenbrier East (Tuesday) and Independence (Thursday), before hosting Nicholas County (Friday).

The clashes with the Spartans, Patriots and Grizzlies are all regional battles.