The heavy lifting of the region schedule has come and gone for the Greyhounds. Now comes the time for the stretch run to the postseason.
Jones County is in the midst of its final four region games of the season. And although Ola prevailed in both of last week’s games between the two teams, winning 11-5 on Wednesday to quench any hopes of a region title, the Greyhounds still have much to play for.
As the week began, JCHS was third in the region standings, one game behind Union Grove and ahead of Locust Grove and Stockbridge.
“The biggest thing I take away from that is that we’re a pretty good team, too,” Coley said. “Yes, we wanted to win a region championship. That’s off the table. Yes, we wanted a two seed; that’s still there but it’ll take some help. We may be a three seed, we may be a four seed, but the biggest thing is getting in, because we are a good team, too.” In the event of tiebreakers, Jones County would win against Locust Grove and Stockbridge, making finishing as the region’s third seed likely. While the Greyhounds finish out the region schedule against McDonough and ELCA, both ranked outside the region’s top five, Union Grove has to play Ola twice. Stockbridge played Ola Monday with Locust Grove and Stockbridge yet to play one another.
The Greyhounds built up steam toward the postseason last Friday against Hampton, winning 14-0 as Trent Paulk pitched a two-hitter and had plenty of offensive help thanks to a five-run first inning. Noah Robinson led the offense charge with three hits, three RBIs and a double, with Landon Pettigrew having a pair of hits and Jonathan Scarbary also doubling.
Friday’s rebound came after the Greyhounds showed plenty of fight and resilience against Ola, coming up short in an 11-5 loss to a Mustangs team that’s still unbeaten in the region.
That toughness began early, as starting pitcher Dalton Lowe pitched out of a 3-0 count with two runners on in the first inning. In the second inning, with JCHS up 1-0 after a Scarbary homer, Ola was held to one run thanks to left fielder Junior Holloway’s frozen rope throw to catcher MJ Lane got the out at the plate, keeping the score at 1-1.
Even when a two-run homer by the Mustangs helped Ola to a 5-1 lead, Jones County refused to roll over, tying the game in the fourth.
Kaylob Harris got things started by adding to the game’s home run total, trimming the lead to 5-2, but Jones County was hardly done. With Paulk and Holloway having reached base, a hard liner by Brayden Lampkin scored both runners, and a fielding error in the outfield allowed Lampkin to come all the way around to tie the game.
The Mustangs’ bats ended up being too much in the end, retaking the lead an inning later up 7-5 and tacking on four more tallies for the win.
“This one kind of just infuriates you a little bit because we played a 2-0 ballgame (Monday) and played really good defense and really good pitching. (Wednesday), it went back and forth and just did some things that were not very characteristic of us,” Coley said. “I’m not taking anything away from Ola. They are obviously the best team we have played so far, but we’re a pretty good team, too.”
