By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot White Junior American Legion team did what it could to battle with Maumelle early in Monday’s doubleheader at Brian Wade Conrade Memorial Field in Cabot, but the host team came up short in both games, losing the first game 14-7 and the second by the final score of 7-1.
Maumelle hit three-straight triples to start game one, and scored three runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Cabot, however, responded with two runs in the bottom of the second to cut its deficit to 3-2.
The visitors added another run to their side of the board in the top of the third to lead 4-2, and four more their next at-bat to push the lead to 8-2. Cabot answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth to trim Maumelle’s lead to 8-3, and the Centennial Bank squad had its best inning in the fifth.
Cabot was able to get into a groove offensively in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs in that inning alone to make it a one-run game at 8-7. Centennial Bank leadoff hitter Ethan Smith started the rally with an infield single to shortstop.
Two-hole hitter Logan Edmondson followed with a stand-up double to deep right-center field, which drove in Smith and made it an 8-4 game. Brandon Jones drove in Edmondson the next at-bat with a single to left field, and cleanup hitter Dalton Hurst followed Jones’ at-bat with a double to right center.
With no outs in the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Fowler drove in both Jones and Hurst with a line-drive single to right field, which cut the Maumelle lead to 8-7. Maumelle changed pitchers at that point, and Cabot couldn’t adjust to the pitching change as their next three batters got out via fly out, strikeout and groundout.
Maumelle answered in the top of the sixth with four more runs to lead 12-7. The visitors held Cabot White scoreless its next at-bat and Maumelle added two more insurance runs to its side of the board in the top of the seventh to set the final score.
“Our guys came out and we hit the ball,” said Cabot White coach Joe Bryant. “We’ve played 12 ball games at this point and our sticks are steadily coming around, and that’s a good sign, but defensively, we’ve got to change it up and really make some adjustments because we’re making way too many errors.
“That’s what’s killing us. I feel like we hit the ball good enough to win tonight. We just didn’t play defense.”
Cabot White totaled nine base hits in game one, but Maumelle finished the game with 16, nine of which went for extra bases. A lot of Maumelle’s extra base hits were the result of poor pursuit angles in the outfield, or just a failure to get in front of the ball as it rolled or bounced near the Cabot outfielders.