Lady Falcons Upset Franklin, Tricky Falcons Roll - TribPapers
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Lady Falcons Upset Franklin, Tricky Falcons Roll

Alert Alex Anderson (“AAA”) scores for West Henderson, on a double steal initiated by Truitt Manuel. Photo by Pete Zamplas.

Mills River – West Henderson advanced to round three in both 3A baseball and softball playoffs, as the Lady Falcons delivered a stunning upset of their league’s champion and the Falcons got vengeance against the team that beat them in 2022 playoffs.

West Region 3A third seed West (21-4) thumped the Atkins Camels 16-1 in its baseball playoff opener. The Falcons scored five runs in each of three straight innings for the first time this year. They totaled 14 hits.

The Falcons slayed 19th seed North Lincoln Knights 8-0 in round two on Friday, also at home. This was sweet revenge for losing to NLHS at home a year ago. “Feels great to give a whoopin!,” said Truitt Manuel, who hurled a five-hit shutout.

In 2A, Hendersonville (12-10) barely lost 4-3 at Morehead.

Skinning Lady Panthers

In softball, 14th-seeded West (17-5; 9-3 M7) annihilated third seed Franklin Lady Panthers (19-4; 11-1 M7) by 11-1 on the road last Friday. That is the same score by which Franklin eliminated reigning 3A state runner-up North Buncombe in round one. Franklin beat Mountain Seven runner-up West 9-6 and 16-4 in regular-season contests, but lost to West when it counted most.

The Lady Falcons won 14-4 at home over North Gaston in round one, scoring early and often. Dana Braznell is their head coach. Senior lefty Mellany Garcia is their ace pitcher.

West played at 11th seed Carson Tuesday. The victor plays Friday at either second seed Oak Grove or seventh-seeded Rockingham County. Enka (22-0; 12-0 MAC) is the West’s number one seed.

Punishing Payback

Falcon males won league titles in football, basketball, and baseball in 2022-23. This is hailed as West’s first “triple crown” in the main three male team sports in school history, and is also a rarity for other Mountain Seven schools. “Not many can say they did that,” Lukas Kachilo said. The senior is WNC’s reigning stat-leading quarterback, a basketball guard, and an outfielder.

His go-to target in football, Manuel, struck out six NLHS Knights. He hit one batter, but issued no walks, and scattered five hits.

In the playoff loss to North Lincoln in ‘22, West twice had runners on second and third bases — but stranded them. “This time, we executed when we had runners in scoring position,” Coach Corn said.

Alex Anderson knocked in two runs. Jackson Lyda, Eli Shinn, Isaac Johnson, and Amani Perin each had one RBI.  “We had good eyes on the plate” on closer pitches, and made “timely hits,” Corn said.

Tricky Falcons Thump Camels

West was even more formidable in its 16-1 slaughter-shortened round one victory. Jackson Lynn tripled in two runs, and had two RBI singles. He batted in the first run, timing a slider. Lynn said the key is to relax when batting. “I try to be as natural as I can be in my swing.”

Anderson also had three hits. Jackson Lyda and Manuel each had two hits. Lyda and Anderson start off the order. Both are “fiery competitors” and vocal leaders, Coach Corn said. “They keep our energy going, cheering from the dugout.” He said that other Falcons are also “hungry” to get hits.

West outfoxed Atkins on the base paths. Camel Craig Belden stole second base. Once the next batter was out for out number two in the inning, Falcon second baseman Eli Shinn fibbed. He yelled “Three outs, three outs!”

Belden fell for the bluff. He slowly retreated from second base toward his dugout. His teammates yelled at him. He realized the ball was still in play. Shinn dashed after Belden, and tagged out the beleaguered runner.

West demonstrated “small ball” and effective base running, with more deception and “disruption,” as Coach Corn puts it. They executed a dramatic double steal. Manuel beat out a hit to get on first base, to score Shinn and to advance Anderson to third base.

Manuel initiated the double steal with added theatrics. He said he purposely stumbled down to draw extra attention from the Camels. It worked. Camel teammates shouted for their pitcher to “step off” the mound, to throw to start a rundown of Manuel. That backfired. The pitcher was already into his motion. If he stepped aside, it’d be a balk and advance both runners.

Instead, he halted his motion. He “spiked” the ball down in front of the mound, as Manuel described it. The catcher charged and fielded the ball, but threw wild into the outfield trying to get Manuel into a rundown. Anderson scored. Manuel raced to third. The rout was on.  Lynn tripled in Manuel and Johnson. The rout was on.

Ryan “Kaz” Kasney, a junior, won that opener and started on Tuesday, Coach Corn noted. He said that “crafty lefty” Kasney has a solid “fastball-curveball mix, with more movement on the ball than from most lefties.”

West hosted 11th seed Kings Mountain (19-5) on Tuesday. By winning, the Falcons will host tenth-seeded East Rowan or 15th seed North Davidson on Friday, May 19. West is top-ranked in its half of the West bracket after second seed St. Stephens got upset.