| Pitchers stepped up for P-15's Sunday, August 08, 2010
COLUMBIA, Tenn. - With No. 1 starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery on the shelf, Sumter P-15's head coach Wallie Jones was worried about where the innings were going to come from for his team in the American Legion baseball Southeast Regional.
Come to find out, that wasn't his biggest concern.
The P-15's failed to find any offense in the final two games of the regional, while the pitching was more than respectable. Sumter saw its season come to an end on Saturday with a 5-0 loss to Georgia state champion Conyers Post 77 at Columbia State Community College's Dave Hall Field.
"We came in here thinking pitching was going to be our concern," Jones said. "Our pitching was wonderful each time for us. We just picked a terrible time to go in a team-wide slump."
Sumter lost Montgomery in the first inning of the championship game of the state tournament against Murrells Inlet when he tore the lateral collateral ligament from the bone in his left knee while trying to field a bunt. The P-15's went on to win the game and the title 4-2, but it knew It would have to have some pitchers step up in the regional - and they did.
Right-hander J. Tyler Smith picked up the victory in a 12-2, eight-inning win over Dyersburg, Tenn., in the opener on Thursday.
On Friday, right-hander Patrick Gordon allowed just two runs in nine innings in a 6-2, 12-inning loss to Kernersville, N.C. In the loss to Conyers, righty Jeremy Buckner allowed four earned runs in going the distance.
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