Washed out… Skies open during Cyclones first-inning barrage
Published 3:27 pm Thursday, June 11, 2020
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cyclones shortstop Bryson Rollins flashes a smile toward a teammate. Rollins is returning to action after recouping a knee injury over the winter and early spring.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cyclones second baseman Jaden Anderson prepares to fire to first base to retire a Pirate baserunner in the top of the first inning.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Bands of rain move over TVA Credit Union Ballpark during the Cyclone and Pirates baseball game.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
JOHNSON CITY – After enduring nearly three months of the absence of baseball, Elizabethton finally was able to put a baseball team on the field as part of the East Tennessee Baseball League.
Even though the league is not under TSSAA authority, the team has to go only by Cyclones due to the way the league is organized.
With their first game scheduled against the Pirates, one of the teams fielded by University High, the Cyclones were eager to get underway.
In the top of the first inning with the Cyclones playing as the home team, Ashton Wilson was given the start on the mound for the Cyclones and didn’t disappoint.
Wilson opened up the top of the first inning by setting down Pirate third baseman on a strikeout.
The Cyclones quickly recorded the second out of the frame when Cyclone second baseman Jaden Anderson fielded a hard-hit grounder and tossed over to first baseman Noah Rosato to set down Jacob Peeler.
Pirate shortstop Cade Pollock followed by hitting a shot down the third base line that Cooper Tipton made an outstanding stop on, but Tipton’s relay to first was high and wide allowing Pollock to advance to second on the throwing error.
It wouldn’t matter, however, as Wilson made a perfect pitch on a 3-2 count to the Pirates second baseman, Greer Barnett, to record his second whiff of the frame and bring his Cyclones to the plate.
Cyclone leadoff batter Anderson swung at a third strike pitch but the ball got away from Pirate catcher Briley Townsend allowing Anderson to beat out the throw to first safely.
Anderson swiped second base and on a hard-hit single deep in the hole to short by Bryson Rollins took third base.
With no one out, Rosato, a transfer from Avery County High School and a mammoth of a first baseman, stepped to the plate for the Cyclones.
Rosato gave Cyclone fans a taste of what he will bring to the table as he took the very first pitch from Peeler in a steady rain and launched it over the 20-foot fence in right-center field for a three-run dinger to give the Cyclones a 3-0.
After the homer, the rain developed into a torrential downpour that effectively brought the contest to a postponement state.
It was a shame as there was a large crowd that had come out for their first taste of a live sporting eventing to be played locally.
The Cyclones will take the field again on Monday at 5 pm also at TVA Credit Union Ballpark when they take on Team Whited, the Dobyns-Bennett entry into the league.
