By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Millington Trojans were having a subpar performance during the early part of the Region 8-3A Baseball Championship game.
The only consistent part of Millington’s game Saturday afternoon at Miles Park was starting pitcher Jace Reason. Reason gave the Trojans hope against the Fayette-Ware Wildcats holding them to one run.
Millington had the challenge of erasing the one-run deficit with nine outs left. Senior Skylar Cantrell sparked the Trojans manufacturing a run in the fifth inning to deadlock the game at 1-1. Reason kept up his clutch pitching, setting the table for the bottom of the seventh inning. Reasons reached on a single and four batters later, Millington’s Travis Gafford came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out.
“The very beginning of the game I was in my head,” Gafford acknowledged. “I wasn’t really driving the ball where it was needed. I had people on base, I needed to do a job and I was getting outs.
“The next guy would do the job I needed to do,” he added. “So when I came up to bat, I was just looking for something to drive over the infield.”
Gafford did just that with a long single to left field driving in Reason and clinching the Region title for the Trojans.
“It feels good to be champions,” Reason said. “This is my first year on this team. I’m getting to know them and how to play with them.
“I feel like I did good,” he added. “My fastball was on. I was throwing pitches I needed to throw and my defense was working behind me. It all felt good.”
The 2-2 victory clinched Millington’s second straight Region title and earned the Trojans a home Sectional series.
The much-improved Wildcats were nursing a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Cantrell reached base on an infield single with one out.
Later Cantrell stole second base and the bad throw led to him taking third base. Cantrell’s heads up baserunning was rewarded when a passed ball allowed him to cross home plate to tie the game.
Millington’s hope of repeating as Region champs had life. Last year Head Coach Colter Millican’s Trojans were boosted by ace Josh Laszacs on their run to Sectionals. The Trojan Skipper said Reason has some of Laszacs characteristics to be on the mound during May.
“He did like he does every time,” Milican said of Reason. “It’s pretty easy, it’s not like I led him. He earned that spot. He’s our guy. He’s good, a good ballplayer and a good competitor. He’s probably our ace.”
Reason kept Fayette-Ware off the scoreboard and limited the Wildcats to one run after seven innings. Reason grabbed his bat to start the bottom of the seventh.
“I hadn’t been hitting that well,” Reason acknowledged. “First time on base today led to a walk-off.”
Another Millington batter who was overdue came up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Gafford remembered the lessons from the coaches.
“It wasn’t me, that kid has a ton of ability,” Millican said. “To see him get a chance to succeed and come through, it couldn’t have happened to a better kid. He has struggled and he knows he has struggled.
“He struggled in that game, but that was huge,” he added. “That was a very, very important at bat. I am happy for all of us but I am really tickled for him.”
Gafford delivered with a single ending a classic championship game.
“Winning is always good and that was a fun game,” Millican concluded. “It felt really, really better pulling it out and they played real well.”
