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Call, game go Wonders' way

By Steve Winzenread | Independent Tribune

Published: May 2, 2009

KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown's Colby Reid knocked Hickory Ridge's J.V. Pender to the ground, and the debate was on.
Was Reid required to slide, or not?
After careful consideration, the ruling was this: Reid did not have to slide. His tying run counted, as did the run behind him, and the Wonders were on their way to a 7-6 South Piedmont Conference baseball win Friday night.
The umpire's ruling, Wonders' coach Empsy Thompson said, was based on whether there was a play at the plate.
If there was, the baserunner had to slide. If there was not, no slide was required.
"In (the umpire's) judgment, there wasn't a play," said Hickory Ridge coach Dick Steed, "which personally I think is wrong. ... We've got to live with that. We can't play without them (umpires).
"As I told our kids, did that play hurt us? Yeah, but there were a lot of plays in the game that hurt us. They won fair and square, and that's just part of the game. There's no doubt in my mind he had a tough call to make."
The Wonders (5-9 SPC) entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 5-4.
After Hickory Ridge starter Blake Sides got a strikeout to start the inning, Spencer Falls walked and Wes Summerlin singled. Reid was a courtesy runner after Falls reached second base.
That was when Pender, who had been catching, relieved Sides.
Pender got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but walked Quin Gill. Ball four was a wild pitch, and that's when the play in question happened.
Pender covered home and Reid ran into Pender. Two runs scored for a 6-5 Kannapolis lead.
After discussion of the play was over, an RBI single by Zach Jones, his third hit of the game, gave the Wonders a seventh run that proved to be important when Hickory Ridge scored in the seventh.
Mike Zinkann started the Ragin' Bulls' seventh with a ground-rule double to left, and Colten Love singled.
The Wonders' Zach Wright then relieved winning pitcher Justin Kidd, who had relieved starter Ryan Blackmon in the sixth.
Wright got a strikeout before Jarrod Brown hit an RBI grounder that was booted, putting runners at first and third.
A stolen base put runners at second and third, but Wright ended the game with two more strikeouts to get the save.
"We've had a tough season when it comes to one-run ballgames," Thompson said. "We've probably been in about ten this year. Unfortunately for us, we came out on the short end quite a few times.
"We've been in about four or five extra-inning games. Last time we played Hickory Ridge, we lost by one run in eight innings. The thing is, our kids didn't quit and I'm just tickled to death that, fortunately for us, it worked out."
The Wonders took a 3-0 lead in the first winning, starting the frame with consecutive leadoff singles by Jones, Wes Honeycutt and John Tuttle.
A wild pitch, Wright's sacrifice fly and Matt Griffin's groundout plated the three runs.
After Luke Hall singled to start Hickory Ridge's second inning, Brown drilled a two-run homer to left.
The Bulls (7-8 SPC) tied the game in the third on Love's sacrifice fly.
But the Wonders went back ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the third when Tuttle led off with a single, moved to second on a passed ball, to third on Wright's groundout and scored on another passed ball.
Hickory Ridge took a 5-4 lead with two runs in the sixth.
Brown led off with a single for his third hit, Sides was hit by a pitch and Pender sacrificed.
Cole Burnside then hit a two-run double.