Taylor Leads Tigers Comeback

From a look at the scoreboard, it was the seven-run Middleton High sixth inning rally that put the Tigers over the top in their come from behind victory over the Lennard Longhorns, 10-4.

But what the flickering bulbs can’t tell you are the runs that should have been up there. The runs senior Demetre Taylor pulled back over the right field fence in the fourth inning when he robbed the Longhorns of a two-run home run, and kept the Tigers in the game.

“I just told myself I was going to get this one,” said Taylor, who admitted to often practicing just such a catch, but never actually making one in a game before.

Lennard’s Mitch Harley, who rocketed the shot to right, was already rounding second base when Taylor made the play. It was all he could do to shake his head in disbelief and graciously tip his cap to the fantastic defensive display.

But Taylor wasn’t done.

In his next at-bat, in the fifth with one out and a runner on-base, he blasted a two-run home run of his own to draw the Tigers to within one run.

“It was a low curve-ball inside, and I told myself just to keep my hands up,” he said. “It felt good.”

And then the Tigers runs came in bunches in the sixth.

Chris Warren came off the bench to start the rally. His hustle down to first on an in-field grounder forced a quick release on the wild throw to the bag. And when the ball got past the Lennard first-baseman, Warren alertly took off for second, making a wide turn, sliding safely into third, essentially turning a ground-out into a triple.

Junior Jotavious Henry lined the first pitch he saw up back up the middle, scoring Warren, and tying the game.

And as if it wasn’t already obvious enough the game was fated for a Middleton win, Eric Comstock, the go-ahead run, found his way on-base when his sharply hit grounder hit awkwardly on the infield. The ball took a healthy bounce over the leaping Lennard shortstop and rolled into center field.

“We got some big breaks,” said Coach Vernon Slate. “But the thing that impressed me was that they never gave up. They kept battling back.”

It was a game that the Tigers (7-4) should have never been down in, but it was the type of game they needed to find a way to win.

“I think we are a front-runner in this district,” said junior Durin O’Linger, who was 4-for-4 on the game. “Our record might not show that, we’ve lost a couple of heart-breakers, but I think we can contend with anyone we play with.”

Middleton head to Robinson High School to face the Knights (2-12-1) on Tuesday.