By Thomas Sellers Jr.
BARTLETT — The Munford Cougars were cruising along with a 3-1 advantage over their new league foe the Bartlett Panthers.
The April 20 District 15-4A contest in Freeman Park was trending toward a Munford victory in the fifth when Panther slugger Joshua Mitchell crushed a two-run homer to spark a three-run Bartlett rally, deadlocking the game at 3-3.
In the crowd was Munford “Team Nanny” Wanda Lowry. The grandmother of Munford first baseman Curly Lowry became nervous and started to walk around the backstop.
Suddenly she made a declaration, perhaps wishful thinking, that her grandson would hit one out too to win the game for the Cougars. Nanny was close with her prediction.
In the top of the seventh inning, Lowry came up to the plate with a pair of runners, Houston Yount and Hudson Wright on base. Lowry smacked a triple to deep center to score the runners and regain the lead for Munford leading to a 7-5 win for the Cougars.
“I think they’ve adjusted pretty well to the new league,” Munford Head Coach Scotty Yount said. “They’ve proved they can play in this league. Without having a dominate guy out there on the mound, we’ve never really been that way. We’ve never really depended on one guy in any situation since I’ve been here.
“We’ve tried to match up and that’s our philosophy,” he added. “We haven’t changed the way we’ve done things. We’ve always played a tough schedule, but this schedule has been really tough.”
Before starting district play in the new-look 15-4A, Munford played the likes of St. George’s, MUS, Christian Brothers, McNairy Central, Caledonia, IMG Academy, Lockport and Paducah Tilghman.
“We played a gauntlet until that week we got up to Houston,” Yount recalled. “We didn’t play very well. They didn’t get our best. We’re sitting in a really good spot to where we can finish second. We need to take care of business tomorrow night. If Collierville or Houston sweep each other, we finish two. If they split, it will go to a runs-allowed tiebreaker.”
Houston swept Munford outscoring the Cougars 22-2 in those two games. The Cougars split with Collierville and swept the Arlington Tigers.
The Bartlett two-game series started in Shelby County with Cougar Jaxzen Scheidt giving his team a 1-0 lead in the first inning driving in the younger Yount.
Yount doubled to start the third inning and Wright followed with a two-bagger of his own to make the score 2-0 in favor the Cougars.
Munford got some more insurance in the fourth inning when Drew Greenland drove in Reed Campbell, who reached base on a triple.
The score became 3-1 when Bartlett finally shook up Cougar starter Drew McCann with a quick rally. The Panther roared in the fifth inning with the homer run to tie the game. Bartlett entered the sixth inning ahead 4-3 over the Cougars.
Campbell restored order for Munford in the top of the sixth inning tying the game at 4-4 with a ground ball RBI.
Then Lowry made his granny look like a psychic with the two-run extra-base hit. Scheidt, who came into the game to relieve on the mound, added an RBI single to score Lowry leading to the 7-5 win.
“We’ve proved we can play in the league,” Yount concluded. “But we have to play well, no days off. It’s not an easy night for us against anybody. We’ve proved we can do it and it’s up to them. We’re built for the postseason. We’re not built to win 30 games during the regular season. What I liked about tonight is they really wanted it.”
The Cougars dominated the Panthers at home the following night 12-1.
