66 Year Old Throws Four-Hitter in Adult League
Anything is possible on any given night in the Troup County Adult Softball League.
Robert Jones put a little spin on that concept on Thursday night at the Shuford Softball Complex. What the 66-year-old Jones did was throw a four-hitter in league play as the Hornets beat Walmart, 6-2.
And Jones didn’t even flinch. He did throw strikes. He forced some ground balls, and Jones pitched six shutout innings against players half his age.
“I hate to lose, and I want a (championship) trophy. I’ve been playing softball for years. You have to play as a team, and we love to participate,” said Jones.
The right-handed strike-thrower has been playing Adult League softball for 30 years. The Walmart boys can believe it, too.
The only two runs that Robert Jones would give up on the evening were both unearned. They still counted, however, as Walmart took a 2-0 lead behind a bases-on-balls and two Hornets fielding errors in the top of the second inning. There was some payback to follow. The Hornets had a quick turnaround with a rally in the bottom of the second.
The Hornets scored three times in the inning on four hits. Jones and his softball compadres lunged into the lead, 3-2 behind a double from Andwello Favors, and three straight singles from Calvin Gray, Caleb Byrd and right fielder Brian Dieral.
Byrd scored Favors with his single to right field. Dieral followed with a two-RBI base hit.
The Hornets were on their way to a 5-2 record. In the interim they also had a one run lead against Walmart.
“We kept grinding, having fun and playing together. We were on top of it,” said Dieral.
Walmart had a hard time getting runners into scoring position after the early innings. Walmart pitcher Brian Setella had two of the hits –both singles – against the clever Robert Jones and the Hornets.
Danny Wheelous of Walmart poked another single to left field in the top of the fourth inning. But in the bottom half of the frame the Hornets rallied for a 4-2 lead with a Caleb Byrd RBI base hit to center field.
The Hornets sprayed the ball around the Shuford Complex in the sixth inning, too. The Hornets spread their lead to 6-2 behind back-to-back singles from Andwello Favors and Byrd, as well as a two-run triple from Christopher Whaley.
“We hit the ball. We played defense, and we stayed focused. We have good chemistry (on our team),” said Whaley, the 21-year-old former LaGrange High wrestler.
By the end of the stuffyhot night, the Walmart softball team would fall to 3-4. And, of course, the Hornets would buzz the nest for their fifth win of the Adult League season.
