Hall's Three-Hitter Paces Lakeside Over Martin Luther King

It was a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon on the diamond, but the perfect weather for the as they knocked off visiting Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, 8-3.

With the win, Lakeside improves to 12-6 and 4-3 in Region 6A-AAAA.

While the score may appear a little lopsided, it was the pitching effort of Adam Hall that extended the gap between the two teams. He had full command of his fastball and the Lions struggled to get the ball into the outfield. Hall pitched five innings, giving up only three hits and one run. 

“He’s done well for us all year,” said head coach Bill Newsome. “He had a good outing today. He showed good command at the mound. He was throwing his breaking ball at any time during the count. It was a real good outing he had for us today.”

The Vikings had great run support early on, putting up five runs of their own in the first inning. Fueled by this run support, Hall frustrated the opposition and kept them off the base paths.

“I was just hitting my spots and trying to keep the ball low,” the sophomore pitcher said. “I wanted to keep it low and in the zone and I was trying to pitch around their good hitters.”

Throughout the game, the Lions played sloppy defense and the Vikings made the most of their opportunities with runs on the scoreboard. Coach Newsome applied an aggressive strategy on the base paths, realizing the opposition was careless with the ball.

“We try to play aggressive,” Newsome said. “We try to pressure the opposing team and it worked for us today. We were aggressive and we took advantage of their mistakes. We couldn’t get the big hit after the first inning. So we had to be aggressive and make those plays happen ourselves.”

After Hall’s superb performance on the hill, reliever Sean Wilson came into the game. Wilson has seen limited action this year, sitting out for several weeks with a back injury. He pitched two innings of relief, giving up two runs in the sixth. He calmed down in the seventh and closed the game.

“I think I just had to get that first inning out of the way,” Wilson said. “I’m still not at full-strength, but I’m getting there. I’m ready to go now any time over the next few weeks. Just want to help the team out. It helps to have more depth in the rotation.”

Newsome agreed that the depth to the rotation will certainly help his team down the road.

“It was good for him to go out and get some work in,” Newsome said. “I thought he was pressing a bit in the first inning, but he settled down in the second and had good command.”

The Vikings are in the middle of a four-game home stretch and will face Redan on Monday and Dunwoody on Tuesday.

“We need to play well next week and we’ll have a chance to move up in the standings,” Newsome said. “We’ve been playing well lately, and if we can get these games next week we’ll have a real shot at the playoffs.”