They seem to be refusing to let their season come to an end.
As a result, the mission-minded Indianola Academy Colonels (13-17) baseball team has played its way into the semi-final round of the North State 4A Playoffs.
The Colonels reached this week’s semi-final round with last Friday’s come-from-behind 8-7 defeat of Washington School in Greenville; an exciting game which required nine innings to settle.
With that best-of-three series against the District 2-4A champion Generals tied at one win apiece, the Colonels received strong relief pitching, clutch hitting, and big defensive plays to help secure their thrilling victory.
The playoff run ended this week when IA stumbled Tuesday evening in their opening game of the best-of-three semi-final series. The Colonels fell by a 7-3 score to visiting North Delta School, followed by a loss in game 2 on Thursday afternoon.
In last Friday’s nail-biting win over Washington School, the Colonels found themselves down in the seventh inning by a 7-6 score; and ultimately down to their final out.
However, that final out would have to wait. For a trio of seniors stepped up to enable the Colonels to score, and eventually live to play another day.
Executing small-ball offense in that seventh inning, the Colonels followed Liam Ledbetter’s lead-off single with a Weston Farmer sacrifice bunt. With Ledbetter now standing on second base, the stage was set for a run-scoring hit.
It would be shortstop Walker Perkins answering the call as his two-out single to left-center field plated Ledbetter with the game-tying run.
The eighth frame then featured IA performing big defensive plays to squelch Washington School’s attempts at scoring again.
Those defensive highlights began with catcher Patrick Davis’s strong throw to nab a runner attempting to steal second base.
One batter later, second baseman Ty Killebrew left his feet to dive to his right and snag a line-drive for the inning’s third out.
Finally, in the top of the ninth frame the Colonels struck again with a game-deciding two-out rally.
On this occasion, a base hit was not required as three walks and a hit batter produced the game-winning run.
Meanwhile, IA relief pitcher Tyler Jackson’s shutout pitching remained intact after the senior worked his way out of a ninth inning jam.
The senior righthander coerced two flyball outs to the outfield and an infield popup out to shortstop; a sequence which left the Generals stranding two baserunners as the game ended.
On the mound, Jackson’s stellar five-inning, shut-out performance yielded only three hits while walking two and striking out four batters.
At the plate, the Colonels stroked 13 hits in the contest with Ledbetter’s banner night accounting for four of those hits.
The senior drilled a pair of doubles and a pair of singles, a body of work which also drove three runs across the plate.
Also contributing two singles apiece in the contest were Davis, Perkins, and Slaton Helms.
