by Mark Schmerling
Wes Brady’s complete game shutout and some timely hitting by other Wolverines gave Polk County High School a 6-0 win over visiting Avery on Monday, March 24.
With three wins in a row Polk is now 4-5 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
“Four-and-five sounds better than one-and-five (where the Wolverines were recently),” head coach Ty Stott said. “I think tonight was huge.”
Stott has found his number one pitcher in Daniel Painter, with Brady, Morgan Groves and JD Edwards stepping up to fill in an improving rotation.
“We don’t get many complete games, or shutouts these days,” Stott said, happy that he didn’t have to use other arms that gave great service last week.
What the Wolverines’ lineup lacked in fireworks Monday they made up for in persistence. They scored one in the first, two in the third, and added a run each in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Their fielding has also been solid, and their base running alert.
With a 1-0 lead on Monday, Brady got some breathing room in the home third. A walk to Damien Cantrell loaded the bases for Dequan Gary. The left-handed swinging Gary punched a line single to left, scoring Edwards and Brady, respectively.
“That (hit) was huge,” Stott said. “They (Avery) had the top of the lineup (scheduled to bat in the top of the fourth).”
Following Gary’s hit, he and Cantrell pulled a double-steal of second and third, but that was all the scoring for Polk in that frame.
Meanwhile, Brady worked his way through Avery’s lineup, coaxing lots of pop-ups, short flies and grounders, with some strikeouts mixed in. Through the game, he was never in trouble and kept the ball near the plate.
Konner Scruggs led off the bottome of the  fourth with a line single. With one down, Edwards sent a potential double-play grounder just to the right-field side of second. The second baseman bobbled briefly, flipped to second to force Scruggs, but Edwards beat the relay to first. Mark Mazilli lined a double to right-center, scoring Edwards and giving Polk a 4-0 lead.
Avery retired Brady on a fly to medium center, but all that did was put him back on the mound sooner, where he faced just four batters, including a walk to retire the side.
Leading off the home fifth, Groves doubled down the left-field line, stole third and scored on Trevor Arrowod’s infield groundout. Polk then led 5-0.
Brady retired Avery one-two-three in the top of the sixth, including his catch of a high pop near the mound.
Polk padded its lead by one in the sixth. Scruggs blooped a single to lead off. Catcher Bryce Martin walked. A fielder’s choice grounder forced Martin at second, but Mazilli walked to fill the bases for the hard-hitting Brady. Brady walked to force in run number six. Nathan Collins bounced into a force-out at home for the second out, with Painter’s groundout to second retiring the Wolverines.
For the second inning in a row, with Brady still on the mound, Avery went down in order, and Polk had its third consecutive win.
The Wolverines visited Erwin on Thursday, March 27 for a varsity-only meeting.
Stott said he was not happy with the way Erwin players acted in their 8-4 win over the Wolverines on March 11.
“We want to beat Erwin,” he said after Tuesday’s game.
Results for the Erwin game were not available by press time.
Polk hosts Owen on Tuesday, April 1 with Christ School visiting Polk on April 2.
While Madison seems the team to beat for the Western Highlands Conference title, Stott said Hendersonville recently topped Madison in nine innings, with possibly the best team Hendersonville has fielded recently, “and that’s a lot,” said Stott.
The Wolverines are slated to visit Hendersonville on April 4.  Last year, Polk went 12-2 in conference play, narrowly missing the title. The last time the Wolverines went two years in a row without a conference title was in 2005/2006.
“We’re still in the race,”
Stott said.