The Ragland Purple Devils advanced to the second round of the Class 1A state playoffs Saturday by beating Donoho 17-7 in the third and deciding game of their best two-out-of-three series.The two teams split Friday’s doubleheader with the Falcons winning game one 5-2 and Ragland claming game two 11-0 to set up Saturday’s showdown.
Ragland now travels to Cherokee County tomorrow to take on Cedar Bluff in round two of the playoffs.
Donoho 5, Ragland 2
The Purple Devils took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning but fell to Donoho 5-2 in the first game.
J.T. Caldwell opened the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scored on a groundout by Kurt Lipscomb.
In the third inning, Ragland pitcher Eli Honeycutt had difficulty finding the strike zone and walked three batters, one with the bases loaded.
The Falcons scored three runs in the inning and Lipscomb came on in relief to get the final two outs.
Ragland closed the gap to 3-2 in the fourth inning when Lipscomb reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a sacrifice by Caleb Crews and scored on a groundout by Honeycutt.
That would be as close as Ragland would get as Donoho scored two runs in the seventh inning and won 5-2.
Jacob Hollingsworth pitched four inning of relief and gave up two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Ragland 11, Donoho 0
On the brink of elimination, the Purple Devils extended their season by one game by drilling Donoho 11-0 in the second game to tie the series at 1-1.
Lipscomb tossed a complete game shutout and Wesley St. John drove in five runs.
Lipscomb gave up two hits, walked one and struck out eight.
Ragland scored two in the first inning, four in the third inning, three in the fourth inning and two in the sixth inning.
In the first inning, Caldwell doubled, stole third and scored on an infield hit by Jamarcus Embry.
Embry made it all the way around to third base and scored on a strikeout by Lipscomb.
In the third inning, Ragland padded its lead as Crews walked with the bases loaded to score Caldwell and St. John blasted a bases-clearing double to make it 6-0.
The Purple Devils continued to have the hot hand at the plate as they scored three more runs in the fourth inning. Lipscomb got a RBI on a groundout with Honeycutt and Corey Broome following with back-to-back RBI singles.
The final two runs of the game came in the sixth inning as Lipscomb and Crews scored when St. John reached on an error.
Ragland 17, Donoho 7
Honeycutt retired the first eight batters he faced to set the tone and Ragland scored in every inning as they moved on to round two with a 17-7 win over Donoho.
Lipscomb’s RBI double scored Caldwell with the first run of the game and Crews followed with his very first home run of his high school career, a two-run shot way over the leftfield fence that made it 3-0.
Ragland added five runs in the second inning as Cameron Hazelwood beat out an infield hit that scored St. John. The ball got away from the Donoho first baseman that allowed Seth Poe to score. Lipscomb drove in Hazelwood, Corey Broome beat out an infield hit and St. John walked with the bases loaded to make it 8-0.
Donoho scored twice in the top of the third inning but Ragland fought back to score four runs in the home half of the third inning. Hazelwood doubled, Caldwell reached on an error and both scored with Embry reached on an error. Honeycutt’s two-run single to left made it 12-2.
Donoho scored one run in the fourth inning and threatened to add more but with the bases loaded, Embry and Talor Petitt turned a 5-3 double play to get the Purple Devils out of the inning.
Embry, Lipscomb and Honeycutt added RBIs in the fourth inning to make it 15-3.
The Falcons scored four runs in the fifth inning to make it 15-7 so all Ragland did was scored twice in the fifth inning to end the game. Lipscomb and Crews both walked with the bases loaded to end the game.
Honeycutt picked up the win as the Purple Devils improved to 16-9.
“This feels great,” said Ragland coach Rodney Lipscomb. “Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war. Donoho threw their ace in the first game but I knew we had enough pitching to last three games. This was a great series. I love those Donoho kids to death.”
Lipscomb said he was excited for his young kids and happy to be moving on to the second round and facing Cedar Bluff.
