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Forsythe’s base hit with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in the tie-breaking run in Thomasville’s 2-1 victory, capping a night that started off with a celebration of last year’s Petitt Cup winning team.
“This is the first game I’ve used wood in a long time,” Forsythe said. “We’re just trying to make adjustments and luckily I started seeing the ball well today. My teammates getting on base in the last inning really helped us out. Them getting on base makes it a lot easier.”
Unlike many of their games from a season ago, Friday night became a pitching duel between T’ville’s J.B. McDonald and the Mustang’s Mike Piazza, the second cousin of the recently retired and future hall-of-fame catcher of the same name. Both pitchers matched doughnuts through the first four innings before Piazza made a mistake in the bottom of the fifth to Forsythe on a 1-2 pitch. In customary Hi-Toms fashion, Forsythe blasted the offering deep over the left-field wall, giving the locals a brief 1-0 lead.
“He kind of made a bad pitch there and I took advantage of it,” said Forsythe. “It came out to be pretty good for us. They have a tradition here of excellence, and you have to follow that up. First game, luckily we came out with the win. Hopefully we can repeat again.”
Martinsville put its first two runners on to start the sixth, but it appeared McDonald would escape with no damage after the righty retired the next two batters on a pop-up and a strikeout. Sam Palace, however, knotted the game at one with a clean single to center. Thomasville center-fielder C.J. Beatty made sure the scoring stopped there with a rifle throw to home plate that Forsythe fired to second, catching Palace in No-Mans Land, ending the inning.
Both bullpens took it from there and all indications pointed to extra innings as neither offense could do much against the fresh arms. Hi-Tom relievers D.W. Moore and Jamey Bradshaw breezed through the final three innings, allowing just two walks. Bradshaw, a southpaw from Louisiana Tech, was down right filthy striking out the side in the top of the ninth, allowing his team to win it in their final at-bat.
“Our pitching did a great job,” Tom Dorzweiler, Thomasville’s interim head coach, said. “We just didn’t swing the bats and get runs across for them. Everybody just kept battling. [Wooden bats] is a completely different game from aluminum. The more reps they get the better they will do. They were at least hitting the ball. They weren’t striking out, so a few more reps and we’ll start producing runs.”
Former and now current player Sonny Meade got the ninth inning rally started by legging out an infield single with a head-first slide into first base. Chris McGuiness followed with a walk and Kyle Johnson loaded the bases two batters after getting hit in the left shoulder by Mustang reliever Chas Byrne. On a full-count, Forsythe laced a sharp single through the 6-5 hole, scoring Meade.
A handful of players from last year’s team appeared before the game to get their championship rings while three in particular received the ultimate praise. Former Hi-Toms David Thomas, a Ledford grad and member of both Petitt Cup winning teams, Chris Swauger and Aaron Lorio were honored by having their names added to Thomasville’s ring-of-honor where their flags will wave next to other greats like Hall-of-Famer Eddie Matthews.
Thomasville plays an exhitbition game at Finch Field against Kernersville on Sunday at 5 p.m.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or eliotduke@hotmail.com.