Tigers silence Reed to open regionals

Douglas and Reed combined for 43 runs in their two regular season meetings this spring with the home side taking each matchup.

Tuesday’s Class 5A North regional first round meeting between the No. 5 Tigers and the No. 4 Raiders couldn’t have been more opposite.

After a lights out pitching display from senior Thomas Young, Douglas secured a 1-0 victory over Reed to advance into the second round.

No. 5 Douglas will head to No. 1 Reno tomorrow (Wednesday) for a 4 p.m. first pitch against the Huskies, who beat No. 8 Damonte Ranch, 9-0, Tuesday.

Pitcher’s duel

Reed scored 20 runs the last time the Tigers came to town in mid-April.

Instead of the wind blowing out, the steady breeze came in from left Tuesday, giving the edge to the pitcher’s to open regional play.

Young toughest inning was his first after hitting two of the first three batters he faced.

However, the senior recorded two strikeouts on two-seam fastballs on the outside third of the plate and induced a groundout to end the frame.

Young’s fastball – that runs away from righties and into lefties – was a big part of his eight strikeouts on the evening, working his way back from being behind in the count on a few occasions.

“This is the group I came down to Douglas for. … I knew if they hit it, I had guys behind me,” said Young. “Last year, we lost a (playoff) game 1-0. Just to go out here and compete in the seventh inning was all I was thinking.”

Reed only managed to hit the ball out of the infield twice the entire game.

The first was a three-hopper that found its way through a gap in-between third base and shortstop.

The second was a routine fly ball to centerfield for the penultimate out the game in the seventh inning. 

All the while, Young continued to keep Raider hitters off balance.

The only frame he didn’t record at least one strikeout was the seventh.

“He is your best option. … With his back against the wall and the lights on, he is mature enough and composed enough now to always keep us in the ball game,” said Douglas head coach Jim Tucker. “Thankfully, he had two pitches left for the last guy cause we weren’t going to pull him unless we had to.”

Reed’s starting pitcher, Tyler Ramelli, was excellent as well, fanning 11 Tiger hitters and allowing three hits in 6.2 innings of work.

The only run that came across the plate went as unearned.

Manufacturing a run

Second baseman Jake Davis led off the second inning with a hustle, infield single to first.

Two hitters later, Grayson Kamper smoked a grounder past second base and into right-center field, allowing Davis to go from first to third.

With Luke Main at the plate in a 2-0 count, the Raiders went to try and pick off Kamper, but the ball escaped up the first base line.

It was more than enough for Davis to scamper home uncontested.

“I didn’t want to get too aggressive. If you look back there, there is a lot of room. If it got past him, I knew there was a big opportunity to score,” Davis said.

Davis went on to smack a one-out single to left field in the sixth and advanced to second on another error, but the Tigers couldn’t bring him around a second time.

Douglas had a two-out chance with the bases loaded in the fifth, but a groundout into a fielder’s choice ended the threat.

On the defensive end, the Tigers were clean and made most of their defensive efforts look routine.

Davis and Owen Evans (shortstop) smothered nearly every ball hit their way.

“We spent all season saying how we are doing it for others. This week, the credit goes to the man in the arena,” said Tucker. “That’s the message from Teddy Roosevelt we are using. These guys deserve the credit for the success. … That zero on the ‘E’ column is the reason why we won that ball game.”

(Douglas High’s Jake Davis corrals a high-bouncing groundball Tuesday afternoon at Reed High School, during the first round of the Class 5A North regional tournament. Davis was 2-for-3 at the plate and scored the game’s only run. / Ron Harpin)