Laurence Manning completes sweep of Cardinal Newman

Cardinal Newman’s fly balls landed in Laurence Manning Academy gloves for most of their game Tuesday night.

Swampcats starting pitcher Andrew Boyd pitched a complete-game shutout as LMA (22-4) closed out its second straight SCISA 3A state championship with a 3-0, Game-2 victory against Cardinal Newman at Joe Tronco field.

“I’m really proud of these kids. It wasn’t easy,” LMA coach Barry Hatfield said. “We had a very tough draw, but we fought through it. We had some great seniors, great leadership, and we had a sophomore kid pitch his heart out. It’s all about them.”

Boyd four-hit the Cardinals (16-12), who had a lot of pop up and down the lineup. They launched nine fly balls into the outfield from the second through the sixth innings – but none of them dropped for hits.

“I threw some fastballs that were up, and they got under them, but the outfield made the plays,” Boyd said. “I had trouble throwing strikes and walking a bunch of people, making my curveball get over, but my defense stepped up.”

All the Swampcats needed for offense was a run in the top of the first inning. Leadoff batter Cole Hair reached on an error, moved to second on Buddy Bleasdale’s one-out single, and scored on Ryan Touchberry’s two-out single.

LMA got two more runs in the sixth, one on pinch-hitter Ricky Nettle’s RBI single that scored Morgan Morris, and the second when Hair’s one-out sacrifice fly scored Dawson Hatfield.

Cardinal Newman didn’t have many opportunities throughout the game, thanks to Morris, Hair and Touchberry in the Swampcats’ outfield. The Cardinals had seven baserunners all game, and none went past second.

“We were in a bad position in the start of the playoffs, but we got hot at the right time,” Cardinal Newman coach Bobby Haney said. “Not hot enough, obviously, but I’m just proud of the seniors and proud of the kids.”

Trent Frye, Buddy Bleasdale, Ryan Hatfield, and Touchberry each had two hits for the Swampcats.

Cardinals pitcher Patrick Parnell also threw a complete game and struck out three.