By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
Sylvan Hills had some bad luck and the Cabot Centennial junior team took full advantage of that in a 5-0 win in American Legion action Friday night in Sherwood.
The game was a pitchers’ duel between Sylvan Hills’ 14-year-old Hunter Heslep and Cabot’s Lee Sullivan, with both pitchers dominating in different ways.
Unfortunately for Heslep and Sylvan Hills, it didn’t turn out to be a defensive duel as the Bruins committed four errors. Add in five walks and Cabot’s two hits were all it needed.
Meanwhile, Cabot was playing error-free defense with just one walk from Sullivan. The little lefty kept the Bruins off balance all night with great movement on his fastball, a sharp breaking curveball and a circle-change that seemed to stop and just run away from right-handed batter.
“Lee does a good job out there keeping the ball down and mixing up his pitches,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross. “His fastball has so much movement that sometimes right-handers just can’t reach it.”
Heslep is a more traditional looking, tall and lanky pitcher. Despite his young age, Heslep stays around 80 mph with his fastball to go with a hard curve.
“He’s young, but he’s going into the zone tournament as my number one,” said Sylvan Hills coach Chris Foor. “He’s really come a long way; it’s just too bad he didn’t have any help out there today, but that happens.”
Heslep threw four-and-a-third innings, giving up just one hit and striking out six.
Cabot held a 1-0 lead going into the top of the fifth when Cabot’s first two batters, Josh Dollarhide and Nick Thomas, reached on errors. Instead of two outs and nobody on, the Bruins faced two on with nobody out.
A sacrifice fly by Tristan Bulice scored Cabot’s first run of the game, while Devin Burke’s double made the score 2-0. Burke came around to score on a passed ball after stealing third.
Cabot’s Jonathan Latture walked and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to set the final margin. Latture also walked and scored back in the second inning.
Sullivan went the distance on the mound for Cabot, pitching six innings and scattering five hits while striking out five. Burke’s double led Cabot. Charles Roberts led Sylvan Hills with a double, while Cody Hattabaugh and Reid Fawcett singled.
