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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
STRAFFORD — Skyline has reached the point of the baseball season where a rainout is no longer a mere inconvenience, but something that can shift a team’s entire gameplan.
Look no further than Wednesday afternoon’s sectional game against Strafford, in which Tigers ace Ty Pinon threw a complete-game two-hitter and spurred his team to a 2-1 victory.
All of the sectionals in the Class 3 state tournament were originally scheduled for Tuesday, with the surviving teams set to have a full day off before Thursday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
But when heavy rains swept through the Ozarks and rendered Strafford’s field unplayable, this one was moved to Wednesday. The other seven sectionals were all played Tuesday.
Skyline coach Brett Bybee said the Tigers originally planned to take an early lead and remove Pinon from this game after he threw his 45th pitch, the maximum number the senior could have thrown and still remained eligible to pitch in the quarterfinals on one day of rest.
Bybee trusted his bullpen, anchored by Pinon’s younger brother, would hold whatever lead Skyline might build against Strafford. But the schedule adjustment — and loss of the day off — meant that Pinon wouldn’t be eligible to pitch at all tomorrow once he threw his 31st pitch.
With no promises of even advancing to the quarterfinals, there was no way Bybee was going to leave his ace on the bench in an elimination game. So he made the decision to let Pinon go the distance against the Indians, and the senior delivered another absolute gem.
Pinon struck out 14 and issued just two walks in a stellar 97-pitch outing, allowing just one unearned run to set up a quarterfinal match with District 9 champion Linn tomorrow in Urbana.
“I’ve got enough faith in my No. 2 that I would have thrown Ty 45, brought his little brother in — who’s our No. 2 — and let him throw 45 and then maybe let (Dawson) Owen finish it,” Bybee said. “That was my plan if we would have played on the day we were supposed to. Since the game got bumped and we play tomorrow, once Ty is over 30 pitches I just let him go all the way. We’re letting his little brother go tomorrow in that game and we will see what happens.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
There’s plenty of reason for Skyline to be optimistic heading into Thursday afternoon’s game.
Trent Pinon, a sophomore, allowed six hits over six impressive innings as the Tigers secured their third consecutive district championship last week against Fair Grove.
They currently sit third in the statewide Class 3 rankings with a 21-3 record. But any way you slice it, they will not have their ace as they try to secure their third straight trip to the Final Four.
“It’s anybody’s game,” Ty Pinon said. “You’ve got to go out and play. The team that comes out and plays hard, plays right and does well, they deserve to be playing the next day. The team who is not ready to go, they deserve to be done. That’s kind of what happens.”
Skyline was ready to go on Wednesday.
Designated as the home team despite playing at Strafford’s field, the Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out rally. Nick WIlliams hit an RBI double to deep left, scoring Ty Pinon from first base. Williams then came around to score on Trent Pinon’s single.
When the older Pinon returned to the mound in the second inning, he had one of the most valuable things you can give a pitcher — an early lead.
He issued a leadoff walk to start the second, but struck out the next five batters he faced. He saw only three batters in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings before J.D. Hunt doubled to lead off the sixth.
“I was a pitcher when I was younger and I always sympathize with those guys up on the mound with the pressure on him,” Bybee said. “I always tell the team if you can give a couple of runs to your pitcher, it allows them to relax so much up there. You just kind of deal versus feeling like you have to have to be perfect every pitch. Ty was a lot calmer there.”
Hunt later scored when an outfielder dropped a ball hit by Mason Denning, cutting Skyline’s lead to 2-1. But Ty Pinon struck out three of the final four batters he faced to seal the victory.
The pitcher said he took a different approach than he did when the teams met earlier this season, a 12-2 game that was Skyline’s first victory over the Indians in more than a decade.
Instead of trying to paint corners, he went directly after the Indians with his power pitch.
“I just attacked with my fastball and just got ahead,” he said. “Good things happened. Had some guys make some nice plays behind me. That’s kind of what’s been working all year, just getting ahead in the count and going right at guys.”
That approach has also helped the senior keep his pitch count down, keeping him in games longer. He lasted just five innings when these teams last met, but went the distance this time.
“He just does a really good job of throwing strikes,” Strafford coach Shane Pierce said. “In high school baseball, if you can throw strikes you’re going to be successful. He just fills the zone up, throws strikes and challenges kids. He has a good curveball, too. He didn’t have to throw it a lot against us, but he’s a really good pitcher. I tip my cap to him. Obviously, he’s the reason they win that game and he did an outstanding job.”
Would the Indians have met a different fate if the game was never rained out and the ace was pulled after throwing just 45 pitches? Pierce wasn’t so sure that actually would have occured.
Informed of Bybee’s initial gameplan, the Strafford coach expressed skepticism.
“I don’t believe that,” Pierce said. “I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that for a bit. Especially with the way the game was. He’s going to take the kid out when it’s 2-1 or 2-0? He has more guts than I do, because that would have been huge for us. I understand what he’s saying, but I have a hard time believing that he would have taken him out in a 2-0 baseball game.”
But there’s little time to dwell on what-if scenarios, as the Tigers are now focused on creating an all-new game plan for Linn. Bybee said Williams has been compiling a scouting report on the WIldcats (14-9) over the past two weeks and they planned to review it later Wednesday.
“We like to see who their aces are — who their best pitchers are,” Williams said. “A lot of times if we can find somewhere that’ll give the play by play, we like to see where they hit on the field. Usually guys will continue to hit to the same spots on the field.”
The left fielder was the salutatorian of the class that graduated earlier this month — Pinon was the valedictorian — but he continues to produce reports and presentations for his school.
It’s indicative of how much the Tigers want to return to the Final Four.
“Our goal every year is always (to win a) district championship,” Williams said. “We see everything after that as extra. Now that we’re here again, it’s one more game and we’re guaranteed the most you can get out of a season.”
With rain in the forecast for Thursday afternoon, there is a chance the quarterfinal may get moved to Friday. If it does, the game will likely be played on the turf at Versailles High School.
A one-day weather delay wouldn’t affect Ty Pinon’s eligibility to pitch in the game, but he will still play shortstop. He would be able to pitch if Skyline reached the semifinals on Wednesday.
The Tigers are eying a trip to U.S. Ballpark only a few days after Shawna Bybee coached the school’s softball team to the school’s first state title in the sport. The Bybees are married and now the baseball team has a chance to give the husband-and-wife and school a clean sweep of state titles.
“It would definitely be cool,” Ty Pinon said. “They definitely had a great season. They were 24-1. Our school really supports each other. There were several baseball players at the softball game rooting them on and today there were several softball girls here rooting us on. We’ve really got a good group in high school right now and we support each other.”
Hunter Allen allowed just seven hits for Strafford — and only four after the first inning.
He struck out one and the defense recorded the other 17 outs without committing an error, including highlight-reel catches from Blake Cowan and Michael Rollman in the outfield, as the Indians finished 15-12. That includes a 2-3 mark in a grueling Mid-Lakes Conference that had three of its six teams make the state tournament and another two reach district title games.
“Every game that we played in the conference was a good game and helped us,” Pierce said. “It made us better. … I think the conference is great and I’m hoping that Skyline makes that run a little further to make our conference look better. I think they are. I think they have a good shot to continue to win and they’re a really good baseball team.”
