Columbus holds off Northside to claim sole possession of 1st in Region 1-5A

In a game that would determine who took sole possession of first place in Region 1-5A, Northside showed why it would be a threat to win the league title down the stretch this season.

But Columbus showed why it was still the team to beat.

The Blue Devils scored a run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to help preserve a lead en route to a 6-4 victory over the Patriots on Tuesday at Northside.

They plated three runs in the first and picked up the much-needed assurance down the stretch to help pitcher Cason Greathouse hang on for the complete-game victory to move his overall record to 7-0 so far this season.

“They were huge,” Greathouse said of the late runs. “At the beginning of the game, Coach (Chad) Mathis told us he wanted us to score every inning.”

Columbus didn’t score every inning, but it did pick up three in a big first frame to give it the early advantage.

Center fielder Jerrette Lee walked to start off the game, and catcher Blake Hicks moved him up a base on a sacrifice bunt. Greathouse helped himself out with an RBI double to get the first run of the game across, and third baseman Jack Copley plated another with an RBI triple. Gage Dempsey brought home the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead early.

They added one in the fifth on a passed ball, another in the sixth on an RBI single by Hicks and one more in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Clayton Duncan to offset a pair of runs scored by Northside. The Patriots scored in the second, a solo home run by Gage Brown, and the fifth, an RBI single by Chantler Valero.

“We ended up having about four (sacrifices) and four hit batters and two walks, so anytime you can start getting guys on you can make things happen,” Mathis said. “To me, scoring late and keeping the pedal to the medal there late, I was proud of that.”

With the exception of the two runs, Greathouse was his typical stingy self on the mound throughout the first six innings. He had scattered seven hits and struck out six, while allowing no free passes via walk or hit batters.

“Cason did a great job on the mound,” Mathis said. “To me, if you’re winning the freebie war there, that’s huge.”

The Northside batters had battled for most of the game, though, fouling off a lot of pitches and running into deep counts to force Greathouse’s pitch total over 100. In the seventh inning, the Patriots put a runner on base with a one-out single by Marcus Eberhart and another on an error by second baseman Tristan Moran. Moran had tried to get the lead runner on a grounder, but forced the throw into left field to put runners at first and second with one out.

After Valero reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners with two outs, Drew Haywood knocked a two-RBI double to make the score 6-4 with the tying run at the plate. As he has done all year, though, Greathouse settled in and struck out the final batter to end the threat with a victory.

“I started to get tired there a little bit, but stuff like that’s going to happen,” Greathouse said. “We bounced back and made the next play right behind it, so we didn’t let it get to us.”

“You want them to be mentally tough,” Mathis said. “Physical errors are going to occur. You just want to be sure that when you do make a mental mistake, that you can get right back on track.”

Columbus is now 12-1 overall and 6-1 in Region 1-5A play. Northside fell to 9-4 overall and 5-2 in region play.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Columbus holds off Northside to claim sole possession of 1st in Region 1-5A."