Region 1-2A: Port St. Joe escapes Hamilton County

May 05, 2011 4:52 PM

By JASON SHOOT / News Herald Writer

PORT ST. JOE — Port St. Joe needed production from top to bottom in the lineup to escape with a win Tuesday night.

PSJ erased an early five-run deficit and held on late to advance to the Region 1-2A semifinals with an 8-7 victory over Hamilton County of Jasper on the Tiger Sharks’ home field.

The Tiger Sharks (16-12) will play at North Florida Christian (Tallahassee) on Friday. Hamilton County ended its season 8-19.

Port St. Joe trailed 5-3 going into its half of the fourth inning, and it was the bottom of the lineup that sparked the Tiger Sharks’ rally.

Austin Howze and Trevor Lang had consecutive singles with one out, and Dylan Hester walked to load the bases. No. 9 hitter Tucker Smith then deposited a bloop single into shallow center field to drive in Howze and Lang to tie the game at 5-all. Hester scored on a balk moments later to give the Tiger Sharks a one-run edge they wouldn’t relinquish.

“First of all is to put (the ball) in play,” Hester said of his approach at the plate. “They’re not going to turn two (a double play) on me.”

PSJ pushed two more runs across in the fifth as Rock Quinn has an RBI single and later scored on an error. That gave the Tiger Sharks an 8-5 lead, and they ultimately needed both of those runs to secure the win.

In the top of the seventh, Eric Zamora reached on an error for the Trojans to lead off the inning. Port St. Joe turned a double play to close within one out of a victory, but Hamilton County wasn’t done yet.

Alfred Davis was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third. Gerald Bristol grounded the ball to third, but the ensuing throw to first sailed far down the right-field line and enabled Zamora and Davis to score.

Bristol advanced to third on the play, but Brandon Cannon popped up to second base in the next at-bat for the game’s final out.

Hamilton County roughed up Howze, PSJ’s starting pitcher, in the first inning, rapping out five hits and capitalized on three errors en route to a 5-0 lead. Trojan catcher Joel Zamora had the first of four consecutive Hamilton County hits, an RBI double to the left field wall for a 1-0 lead.

Jared Moody and Dalton Tyre also had run-scoring singles in the inning, and two more Trojan runs crossed on errors.

“I left the ball up and got hit around the ballpark a little bit,” Howze said.

Howze eventually settled down and pitched a complete game. He scattered nine hits and struck out eight.

The Tiger Sharks trimmed the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the first. Chase Watford hammered a double off the wall in right-center field, and he later scored on a wild pitch.

PSJ’s No. 1 hitter, Roman Quinn, led off the third and was hit by a pitch. He stole second, advanced to third on an error and scored on C.J. Butts’ groundout to pull the Tiger Sharks within 5-3.

Rock Quinn was the only PSJ player with two hits.

Hamilton County’s Joel Zamora and Bristol each went 3 for 4, and Jared Moody added a pair of hits.