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Cathedral’s Trey Gill scores a run for the Green Wave. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

From left, Natchez High fans Ke'Darius Stampley, Devontae Stncel, Christian Williams, CJ Green, EJ Woods and DeCameron Combs watch the Bulldogs' win over Cathedral Thursday night at Chester Willis Field in Natchez. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Robin Mosley, 15, jokes with her cousin Soniya Harried, 16, Thursday at the Natchez baseball game against Cathedral. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez High School’s Shavoké Herrington, left, and Jatavis Melton watch the final moments of the Bulldogs’ win over Cathedral Thursday night at Chester Willis Field in Natchez. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez's L.J. Minor celebrates while running the bases after Shavoké Herrington hit a home run Thursday in the Bulldogs' win over Cathedral. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

By Garrett Kroeger

The Natchez Democrat

In one dugout at Chester Willis Field sat Natchez High School baseball coach Dan Smith in a small blue chair sporting a smile from cheek to cheek. In the other dugout sat Cathedral High School coach Craig Beesley on a white bucket with his face in his hands.

It was a tale of two games on Thursday night.

“It’s hard to to sit there and watch them not be successful because I know they are working as hard as they can,” Beesley said.

After the first inning, it seemed like the game was going to be a pitching duel between the two teams. Then during the second, the Bulldogs built a 2-0 lead. But, come the third, the flood gates opened.

A missed grounder here and there and several overthrows caused the Green Wave to crash into a mountain of frustrating errors while Natchez rode a scoring wave to down Cathedral in five innings, 12-2.

“You look at the score and it’s 12-2, you would think our pitching was not very good,” Beesley said. “But our pitching was our strong point tonight. We only gave up four or five hits the whole game. To give up 12 runs, our defense has got to start getting better at some point. It’s frustrating for these pitchers to get ground balls and we don’t make the plays behind them.”

In the third, the Bulldogs scored a total of eight runs in  a multitude of ways. Senior Jatavis Melton stole three bases to score while his fellow senior counterpart Shavoké Herrington knocked in an RBI.

On the defensive side that inning, Cathedral struggled to get a grasp of the ball. The ball either hit a Green Wave player’s mit and bounced off or it would slip out when they would try to make a throw. They just couldn’t get over the mental mistakes that have hindered them all season, as Cathedral is still winless this year.

The icing on Natchez’s cake came in the fourth inning when Herrington hit his second RBI of the game, which was a two-run home run over the centerfield fence.

“When he hit, I yelled it was gone,” Smith said. “He has been working hard because he missed all of last year due to injury. But he has been working his butt off trying to get back to his former self.”

While Herrington’s hit sealed the quick game victory, he also captured a win as a pitcher. In the five innings, he struck out six batters and only allowed two hits. As Smith said, Herrington won the game for the Bulldogs.

With the win, Natchez is looking to extend its two-game win streak heading into today’s contest against Crystal Springs.

“I hope we get started on a roll,” Smith said. “I hope it starts something good. Like I said, when you beat a good tradition program like Cathedral, Coach Beesley, it’s a good win. We just need to keep practicing hard and keep doing what we are doing. We can’t get complacent. I just want (the team) to keep coming each day and keep getting better.”

As for Cathedral, it is back to the drawing board.

“It’s been a rough year for us,” Beesley said. “Right now, we are trying to grow up mentally and physically. Things aren’t just going our way. One bad thing happens, and it kind of snowballs on us.  It’s tough to regain our composure after that, but these young kids are going to keep on working. Hopefully, they will start making some of the adjustments that we have been working on at practice in the game. It’s just that they keep making the same mistake over and over and we are trying to break them of that.”

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