Glenvar pitcher Cale Vaughan did about as much as he could do on the mound last week without getting a win. The junior righthander pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 but was still saddled with the loss in Glenvar’s Region 2C opening game against Dan River, a 1-0 defeat in Ringgold.
The host Wildcats scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. After a leadoff double, the only hit of the game for Dan River, the runner moved to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly.
Glenvar never caught and had just three hits, one each by Cam Feazell, Jack Osburn and Rhett Henderson. Feazell doubled in the sixth and appeared to tag up and move to third on a fly to right by Henderson. However, the Wildcats appealed that Feazell left too soon and it was held up for the third out of the inning.
“I have to question that,” said Glenvar coach Jeremy Cromer. “Unless the umpire has eyes in the back of his head there was no way he saw that where he was standing.”
That was the closest Glenvar came to scoring and it was a theme with this year’s team. The Highlanders got some well-pitched games that ended in a loss when the bats didn’t come through.
“That was a hard one to swallow,” said Cromer. “Vaughan pitched good enough that he shouldn’t have lost that game.”
With the loss the Highlanders finished the season with a 9-12 record. Vaughan made the first team All-Three Rivers District on the mound and Feazell, a freshman, was second team all-district as a pitcher. Gray Hutchison and Adam Franklin were both Honorable Mention. Franklin, a catcher, threw 12 runners out trying to steal this season.
“Next year is very promising,” said Cromer. “We just need to work on our hitting in the off-season and we could be really good.”
