By PATRICK YASINSKAS
SPRING HILL — On a night when the Hernando High baseball team had plenty of stars, one stood out.
“It was Cadyn Williams’ night,” Hernando coach Tim Sims said.
Williams, a 5-foot-9, 152-pound left-hander turned in his best performance of the season as the Leopards defeated Springstead 11-1 on Tuesday night. Williams allowed just two hits and struck out five while throwing 92 pitches in a game that ended after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
“Cadyn is your typical Hernando junior pitcher,” Sims said. “He’s paid his dues on junior varsity and developed. He’s become a true pitcher and tonight he was in the game from the neck up. Springstead swings the bat as well as any team we’ve played. They’re a very, very good hitting team. We got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but Cadyn battled his way out of it and got it done all night.”
Williams worked his way out of a first-inning jam and never was in serious trouble after that. Springstead had runners on second and third base with one out in the first, but Williams came through with a strikeout and got the next batter to fly out to third base to end the inning.
From there, Hernando’s offense took care of the rest as the Leopards won their third straight game to improve to 12-8 on the season. Hernando took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as sophomore left fielder Lucas Chafin singled and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. Chafin then scored when Michael Saltsman hit a ground ball and the Springstead third baseman threw wildly to first base.
Williams also was in a bit of a jam in the second inning after he hit a batter with a pitch and Springstead senior Nathan Marsh singled to right field. But Williams followed that with a strikeout and got standout Springstead shortstop Nathaniel Sabino to fly out to third base.
After that, Hernando’s offense exploded. The Leopards broke the game open with a seven-run third inning. Nino Urso led off the inning with a walk and Brody Hedick was hit by a pitch. Junior shortstop Austin Knierim knocked in Urso with a single to right to give Hernando a 2-0 lead. Sims then borrowed a page from the playbook of his mentor, legendary Hernando coach Ernie Chatman, whose fame was built largely on his use of the bunt.
With senior cleanup hitter Palmer Looper at the plate, Sims caught the Eagles by surprise when he signaled for a squeeze play. Looper answered with a perfectly executed bunt single to score Hedick for a 3-0 lead.
“We had the right man at the plate at the right time,” Sims said. “We always practice ways to get our guys comfortable in uncomfortable situations and Palmer came through.”
Sims then turned to “Ernie Ball” once more and Mason Morgan drove in Knierim with another bunt. After senior first baseman Landon Euler was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Urso cleared them with a triple to right field to give the Leopards an 8-0 lead.
“We’ve had good competition among our outfielders,” Sims said. “Early in the season, some of them were striking out. But we kept noticing that Urso gets on base and that’s why he’s in the lineup. He may be our No. 9 hitter, but he game through with the big hit this time.
Springstead (12-7) scored its only run of the night in the third inning on an RBI double by Joey Rief. Hernando extended the lead to 9-1 in the top of the fourth inning when Looper’s single drove in a pinch runner for catcher Kaine Ellis, who had started the inning with a double to right. Knierim, who had walked, gave the Leopards a 10-1 lead when he scored on a groundout by Chafin.
Springstead didn’t have a lot of highlights. But one bright moment for the Eagles came before the game even started. First-year Springstead coach David Cazanas has developed a friendship with Chuck Moehle, who coached Springstead from 1982 through 1995 and led the Eagles to three conference championships.
Moehle threw out the ceremonial first pitch with a strike that appeared to have a little juice behind it. Sims, who had his share of close games with Moehle as a Chatman assistant and, later, as Hernando’s head coach, stood in as the catcher for the first pitch.
“Chuck and I may have been rivals,” Sims said. “But we’ve been close friends through the years and there’s a lot of respect between us that goes way beyond baseball. When our kids were born, we’d call one another with congratulations, and we’ve stayed good friends through the years. Chuck Moehle is a class act.”
The Eagles and Leopards are scheduled to play again Friday night at Hernando’s Emerson Field.
