Cyr wins the battle, Corinth Holders edges Wilson Fike in baseball playoffs
Kody Cyr persevered in a solid pitchers’ duel.
And that’s why his Corinth Holders baseball team is making school history in the state 3A playoffs.
The sophomore pitched a four-hit complete game, striking out seven against two walks as the No. 19 seed Pirates eliminated No. 30 seed Wilson Fike 2-0 on Saturday night.
The victory advanced the Pirates (17-7) to a Tuesday night contest at No. 11 seed Northern Guilford.
The Pirates’ baseball as well as softball and girls’ soccer teams have all advanced to the third round, and if any of them win in the next round it will set a spring sports record for the sixth-year school.
“Kody was really solid tonight,” Corinth Holders coach Adam Weaver said. “The one thing we know about him is that he battles. He’s got a lot of fight in him and he doesn’t give in.
“We had a couple of situations we didn’t take advantage of. But the main thing in the playoffs is to keep advancing, and we were able to do that tonight.”
Brandon Winstead had two of the Demons’ hits and came on in relief of Jaelynn Melton in the fourth inning.
“To win in the state playoffs you’ve got to capitalize on every situation,” said Fike coach Buck Edmundson, whose team finished 12-11. “We had some defensive swings early in the count, and when we got behind late in the game maybe we were trying a little too hard.
“Cyr did a great job. Hats off to him. Our pitchers did a good job too.”
The Pirates scored twice in the fourth. Tate Proctor led off with a single and stole second, scoring on Will Jones’ one-out single to left. Catcher Carson Sakowski’s infield hit preceded Alec Seaton’s bases-loaded fly ball to center that scored Jones with the final run.
“Kody was great tonight,” Sakowski said. “He was locating everything well. We were on the same page the whole way.”
The Demons threatened in the sixth, loading the bases with two out on two hits and a walk before Cyr got out of the jam.
“I was able to focus pretty well,” Cyr said. “My curveball was working pretty well early in the game, and my fastball was good the whole time.”
Junior infielder Mason Cooper, who singled for the Pirates in the first inning, said the tournament run is all about making history.
“We battled pretty hard at the plate,” Cooper said. “We’ve got good pitching and our offense is starting to come around. We’ll just keep battling and trying our best.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 11:34 PM with the headline "Cyr wins the battle, Corinth Holders edges Wilson Fike in baseball playoffs."