Red Level falls 12-3 to Samson, out of playoff hunt

Samson scored three runs in the fourth, and had solid pitching for six innings in a 12-3 victory over Red Level on Friday night at the Hammett-Holley Sports Complex.

RLS needed a win over Samson to clinch a playoffs berth and the runner up finish.

“It killed us,” RLS coach Tony Ingram said about the fourth inning. “There are so many things that could’ve went different.”

For Samson, who had already won the area championship, playing against RLS was just another game.

Colby Meeks pitched four innings and struck out four and allowed one hit and no runs to earn the win for Samson.

Red Level took a 3-2 lead in the first inning after scoring on two passed balls and an error.

RlS had a chance in the second to take a 4-2 lead with two outs with runners at first and third base, but couldn’t convert.

On a passed ball that hit square in the middle of the back stop — a spot that it doesn’t normally make contact with, Ingram said — Samson’s Tyler Thompson threw Red Level’s Troy Nolen out at third on the steal to end the inning.

“That ball must have gone off that back stop 200 times this year,” Ingram said. “Not once did it hit that one spot in the middle and come back and get a run out.”

After taking a 5-3 lead in the fourth, Samson added another run in the fifth on an RBI single from Meeks to score Dylan Mock.

SHS scored on run in the sixth on a sac fly from Trey Powell that scored Ethan Simmons, the lead-off hitter.

Samson put the game way out of reach in the seventh, scoring five runs on four hits and one error.

Mock reached on an error, and Thompson followed with a single. Meeks hit his second RBI of the game to score Mock, and then Shane Sheffield hit in Thompson.

Meeks and Sheffield later came in on a two-run double from Simmons, who later scored on a wild pitch.

Meeks went 4-for-4 to lead Samson and had two RBIs; Sheffield went 2-for-4 with two RBIs; Powell went 2-for-4 with three RBIs; and Simmons went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Nolen led RLS and went 2-for-4.

“I’m proud of these guys,” Ingram said. “There was a point in our season where we won two ball games, we got drummed in two tournaments and it would’ve been easy to just to give up.”

Ingram went on to say that the team didn’t give up, and competed in a few close area games, where RLS lost by one run.

“We had chances all year,” he said. “I’m proud of them for getting to this point, having a chance to get to the playoffs after starting so bad.

“We’ve got three more ball games,” he said. “We’ve got to pick our head up and treat those last games as our playoffs.”

Red Level will face Florala and Andalusia on Monday. RLS will play the Wildcats at 4 p.m. and AHS in the night cap.

Then, on Tuesday, RLS will close its season out on the road at McKenzie.