By Brad Greer

After giving up 20 run in the last two games, North Delta head baseball coach Stoney Stone looked for somebody to shut down the powerful bats of Humphreys Academy in the deciding game of their best-of-three  series Thursday afternoon.

Stone gave the starting nod to Lamm and the junior delivered with an outstanding pitching performance by holding the Rebels to only two hits and one unearned run over six plus innings in guiding the Green Wave to a 6-1 victory and a birth in the schools’ first ever North State championship.

North Delta,( 15-6), hosts two-time defending state champion Bayou today  in the first game of their best-of- three series. The scene will then switch to Cleveland Thursday for game two while a game three, if necessary, will return to Green Wave Field Friday afternoon.The first pitch of all three games are scheduled for 5:30. Bayou used a five-run fifth inning against  Tunica in route to a 12-10 victory  in their third and deciding game Friday to advance to the championship round.

Lamm, (2-0), who pitched 1.1 innings of relief Monday in a 12-7 North Delta win, kept the Rebel hitters in check with a bevvy of changeups and perfect location of his fastball. After giving up a second inning single to Landon Domino, Lamm retired the next ten batters before hitting Patrick Bridges with a pitch in the fifth. A leadoff double by Turner Lloyd in the sixth was the only other hit Lamm gave up on the day.

Humphreys, (17-5) loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Will Bearden led off with a walk followed by Bridges reaching on an error. Lamm then hit Joel Bellipanni to load the sacks. After a meeting on the mound, Stone handed the ball to Jim Tom Copeland who got Bearden out on a force play at the plate. Lloyd then skied a sacrifice fly to right field to place Bridges for the second out. Copeland then ended the game in style by getting Payton Pearson on  a called third strike.

“I wanted to finish the game but my elbow was killing me,” said Lamm. “My focus today was to mix up my pitches to keep them off balance and hit my spots. We scored enough runs to make me feel comfortable that if I did make a mistake it would not hurt, “ said Lamm, who struck out five and walked two on only 85 pitches.

North Delta gave Lamm all the run support he would need in the second inning by plating three runs on three hits off Rebel starter Bridges.

Ethan Taylor led off the inning with a walk then swiped second base. Bateman Greenlee then slapped a RBI single to right that scored Taylor for a 1-0 lead. Britt Lawrence and Hunter West laid down two perfectly placed bunts down the third base line to load the bases with no outs.

After John Cody Dalrymple fielders’ choice scored courtesy runner Ethan Waldrip, Bailey Guckert lofted a sacrifice fly into shallow right that chased Lawrence home for a 3-0 North Delta lead.

The Green Wave added a pair of runs in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Michael Magee led off the inning with a walk followed by a Copeland single. One batter later, Greenlee roped another single into left to drive in Magee. Copeland also scored on the play as the Rebel shortstop bobbled the relay throw from the outfield.

North Delta picked up an unearned run in the fifth when Magee, who had reached on an error to start the inning, scored on Taylor’s RBI groundout. The Green Wave registered five hits in the game while leaving two runners on base and committing two errors.

“Geri did an outstanding job for us today” said Stone. “He threw strikes and kept the ball down and that is what he does best. He had his curveball and changeup working today and that makes his fastball look a lot faster to a hitter. We did not get a lot of hits today but we got them in crucial situations with runners on base. We swung the bats well, not as good as we had in the first two games, but we got the job done.”

Ask  if he thought this would raise a few eyebrows across the state when people would ask where North Delta is Stone replied, “I sure hope this gives us a little respect. Thess kids come out here every day at practice and work hard and play hard every game. We’re not a 5A powerhouse or a 3A academy school but we play good, smart hardnose baseball.