Do not be deluded into thinking Tuesday night’s game at Clinton High School is going to anywhere near as easy as the first game at Hanahan.
Clinton won, 17-3, in the first game on the Hawks’ home field and is a victory away from the Class 3A state championship. A Hanahan victory forces a third game at a neutral site to be determined.
The Hanahan team that took on the Red Devils on Saturday was strapped by having to play two games the previous night in order to reach the finals. Those games, against Brookland-Cayce, had been postponed by rain on Thursday.
Everyone but his brother – Hanahan pitched only one of its two Gomeses – took turns trying to get the Red Devils out. Five pitched and five allowed at least a run. Nothing demonstrated the Hawks’ frustration any more than the fact that the starter, Hunter Gomes, only walked three but hit four Clinton batters.
The feathers will be ruffled, too. The good citizens of Hanahan think it unfair that the High School League insisted the game be played on schedule. Some have undoubtedly assigned some furtive political influence to Clinton for the league’s insistence that the show go on as scheduled.
They always do.
The Red Devils deserved some benefit for winning six consecutive playoff games – Saturday made seven – but the edge proved a bit extreme.
Hanahan (26-8) will be rested, motivated and bent on revenge when it visits Clinton (25-3) at 6:30 on Tuesday night. The Red Devils will still put on their britches one leg at a time.
Blue, Green, Purple & Red 