Down two all-staters, no problem for Class AA No. 1 Independence against visiting, and defending Class AA runner-up, North Marion.
Not with Tanner Sipes on the mound.
Sipes spun a gem at Joe Goddard Field, limiting the Huskies to four hits with 12 strikeouts and no walks as the Patriots took the win 5-2, giving Independence a measure of revenge. It was North Marion that knocked Indy out of the state tournament in the semifinals last June.
Which is precisely why Sipes, despite not having shortstop Michael McKinney and second baseman Clay Basham, both returning first-team all-staters and both lost in back-to-back games earlier in the week, wanted the ball.
“I asked for this game Monday night,” Sipes said. “We played Logan and I threw really well. We heard we were playing North Marion and I told coach (Scott Cuthbert) ‘I want this game’ and I got it. I wanted it for redemption really. They beat us in the state semifinal game, and we had a bone to pick with them and I wanted to be the pitcher to do it. I was ready to roll from the start.”
“Tanner is going to be a guy who is always going to throw strikes and his curveball is going to be good,” said Andy Lester, who caught the first five innings of the game. He’s going to throw the ball where I set up. He’s just a guy who is always going to be good.”
It really should be no surprise. It was Sipes who delivered a similar gem in the Patriots Game 3 win over Bluefield last season in the Region 3 finals. And her pitched well in relief in the state tournament as well.”
North Marion coach Vic Seccuro was impressed by Sipes’ performance.
“I thought he did a nice job, he kept us off balance there pretty good against some of our better hitters,” Seccuro said. “He did a good job on my No. 3 hitter (Cruz Tobin, who he struck out three times, including his 12th strikeout to end the game). We just couldn’t get that timely hit. And that is a concern for us. But not taking anything from Sipes. He did a nice job.”
“That was the best I’ve seen him all year,” Cuthbert said. “He threw tons of strikes (of his 106 pitches, 73 were for strikes), he was able to get out of a couple jams and he was able to go the distance, which was good to see this time of year.”
Indeed, the Patriots were coming off a week of four straight games including Class AA No. 2 Logan, region foe PikeView, Class AA No. 5 Bluefield, and the Huskies. And the won them all.
And the last two came without Basham who suffered an injured knee against PikeView and McKinney, who suffered a concussion Wednesday night against Bluefield.
With Sipes dealing the Patriots had to find a way to generate any production they could muster against North Marion starter Cole Malnick, who was equally impressive.
And they got it with a little help from the visitors and a couple of timely hits from a pair of role players.
After the Huskies tied the game 2-2 in the top of the sixth, partly because of to an error on Independence, the Patriots came right back and retook the lead.
Carson Brown extending his hit streak to 17 games with a single and promptly stole second. Lester, who had a big double earlier in the game, put the ball in play with a slow roller to third and was thrown away, allowing Brown to come around and score. James Williams, who was at first because Lester was behind the plate and Caleb Riddle followed with singles thar scored courtesy runners Caelyb Nichols (two runs) and Logan Phalin.
“The kids who filled in, as the game went along, I thought they had better at-bats,” Cuthbert said. “It’s tough when you haven’t gotten many at-bats and you get thrown into a game against a quality team. We had two kids that hadn’t gotten a lot of at-bats come up with the big hits. Williams got a big hit and Riddle got a big hit. That was a good positive to see.”
North Marion had twice battled back to tie the game but twice Independence had the answer.
After Atticus Goodson’s eighth home run of the season gave Independence a 1-0 leading of the game for the Patriots, it took a while, but North Marion evened it 1-1, when Alex O’Neil singled with two outs scoring Malnick, who had singled.
Andy Lester had a double and Sipes a run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth to give Independence the lead, 2-1, but two innings later Parker Kincell scored when O’Neil reached on a shot to shortstop.
With runners on second and third and one out, Sipes proceeded to strike out the next two hitters to end the uprising right there.
That set up the three-run sixth that gave the Patriots to insurance they needed to earn the win.
“A lot of times when momentum swings like that we’ve been able to answer, we’ve been able to manufacture runs,” Cuthbert said. “And we’ve had different kids step up at different times.”
The Huskies got an outstanding outing from Malnick, who had 13 strikeouts, six in a row between the second and third innings.
“Cole threw awesome, and I hate to see that loss on him,” Seccuro said. “They’re a good baseball team, and he knows that too. We have to back him a little better. I don’t think we backed him well on defense, but he still threw a very good game.”
Independence (16-2) will get a short respite through the weekend after four games in four days. North Marion is 8-8.
NM 000 101 0 — 2 4 1
I 100 102 x — 5 7 3
Battery – NM: Cole Malnick and Alex O’Neil. I: Tanner Sipes and Andy Lester, David Shuffleberger (6) Atticus Goodson (7). WP – Sipes. LP – Malnick. Hutting – NM: Parker Kincell 1-4 (run), Malnick 1-2 (run), Alex O’Neil 2-3 (rbi). I: Atticus Goodson 1-3 (hr, run, rbi), Carson Brown 1-3 (run), Andy Lester 1-3 (2B run), Tanner Sipes 2-4 (rbi), James Williams 1-3 (rbi), Logan Phalin (run), Caleb Riddle 1-3 rbi), Caelyb Nichols (2 runs). Records – NM: 8-8, Indy 16-2.
