Photo by Jacques Morin
“Can I do it?”
Grant McGuffey has played for Bryson Massey at Cedar Ridge for four years. He knows his head coach’s aggressive approach to base running, his trademark for six years.
So as McGuffey stood at third base on Tuesday night during the second inning of a scoreless game, he and Massey noticed that Carrboro’s catcher wasn’t looking at third as he returned the ball back to pitcher Evan Stowe.
McGuffey didn’t need to ask twice. The next chance he got, he was going to the plate.
After Stowe delivered ball two to batter Carter Warren, catcher Max Trojanowski sent the rawhide back to the mound–and McGuffey took off.
Stowe looked up as his teammates’ voices suddenly raised up around him , but his throw was too late. McGuffey slid into the plate for a straight steal of home.
It was the first of three stolen bases for McGuffey, who scored both Cedar Ridge runs in a 2-0 win over Carrboro at Cedar Ridge Baseball Field. For the first time in school history, Cedar Ridge has won its first six conference games in a season.
“The guys who play for me know what I look for,” Massey said. “They know the way I like to play. Grant asked me to do it. He saw it and I gave him the green light to go.”
The Red Wolves maintain a one-game lead over South Granville in the loss column for first place in the Big 7 Conference.
In Cedar Ridge’s first league game in 15 days, they needed as many free bases as they could get.
Stowe, throwing a complete game, allowed just four hits. McGuffey’s steal of home in the second inning came after the Red Wolves loaded the bases with one out following three Carrboro errors. Yet even after McGuffey’s theft, it still felt like Cedar Ridge left money on the table after Stowe got consecutive strikeouts to end the inning with the score 1-0.
Cedar Ridge junior Hudson Kelly conceded just three hits to earn his third win of the season. The Jaguars biggest threat came in the seventh inning when Owen Rounsley was hit on the back on a 1-2 curveball with one out. Rounsley left the game for a pinch runner. Hiroki Hasegawa dropped a perfectly placed soft liner down the right field line, but the runner remained at first in fear that Dominic Sena would catch it. Sena sent a perfectly placed throw to McGuffey covering second for the force out.
Carrboro’ Graham Stutts lined a single to left field, which ended Kelly’s day on the mound. Sophomore Jesus Velazquez, the Red Wolves second baseman, came in as the closer. After conceding a base hit to Avery Cooney to load the bases, Velazquez struck out Andrew Jones, the top of the Carrboro order, to earn his third save of the season.
“Out pitching and our defense is what we’re going to be hanging our hat on until we kinda figure it out at the plate,” Massey said. “Our pitchers have accepted that. We’ve really relied on our pitching and our defense and that’s the strength of our team right now.”
Kelly took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, when Rounsley led off with a grounder that rolled into left field for a single.
McGuffey added insurance in the fourth inning. He stroked a single to centerfield. With Brody Tapper at the plate, McGuffey stole second, then immediately advanced to third when the throw from the catcher wound up in centerfield. With Sena at the plate, McGuffey scored off a wild pitch for the Red Wolves’ only insurance run.
Cedar Ridge will play three Big 7 Conference games in three days this week. After beating Carrboro on Tuesday, the Red Wolves will host J.F. Webb in Hillsborough on Wednesday night at 7. They will travel to Carrboro on Thursday afternoon at 5.
Carrboro made the trip to play the game despite the fact their school was placed on lockdown Tuesday morning. Two teens were arrested for firing gunshots within distance of Carrboro High at around lunchtime. An all-clear was given by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School officials early Tuesday afternoon.
