Wednesday April 2nd, 2008 on the campus of  Poca High School, The Dots took Sherman like Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman took Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia in 1864. The Dots showed about as much mercy as Gen. Sherman showed his enemy. But the state mercy rule saved The Sherman tide in five innings.

The game started out fast for the Dots as senior hurler Josh Smalley strikeout two Seth batters in the top of the 1st inning and on the second strikeout senior catcher Ian Humphrey threw the runner out at second with a great throw to shortstop Alex Staats to complete the double play and Seth had no runs in the inning. In the bottom of the inning The Dots jumped on the Tide for 3 runs. Sophomore DH Caleb Arthur led off with a walk for The Dots Then sophomore 3rd baseman Matt McClanahan sacrificed Junior Josh Knight ( who was in for Arthur ) to second base. Then Ian Humphrey got a hit driving in Josh Knight. Then pitcher Josh Smalley helped his own cause blasting a Homerun that scored him and Ian Humphrey Both sophomore centerfielder David Beavor and senior rightfielder Adam Snyder got hits in the inning. And Poca led 3 - 0 after 1 inning of play.

In the second inning Seth fought back some with a leadoff hit and a one out walk. But Josh Smalley showed what he is made off he strike out two Seth batters in the inning one to finish Seth off in the second inning and one earlier when he was down 3 to 0 he threw three straight strikes buy the Tide batter. 

In the bottom of the inning Poca led off when leftfielder Tyler Moore got a hit. Then Matt McClanahan got out but Moore scored off a throwing error. Ian Humphrey walked, Smalley got on off a Seth throwing error and Matt McClanahan scored. Then David Beavor scored off Smalley's sacrifice fly. The Dots led 6 - 0 after two innings of play.

In the 3rd inning Sherman led off with another hit before a Seth batter strikeout. Then they got another hit, a walk, and the bases were loaded for Poca's Smalley, who promptly struck out the next Sherman batter and ended the inning. In the bottom of the inning Caleb Arthur got on with a hit . Then senior Donnie Staats running for Caleb Arthur scored off a Double by Matt McClanahan. And the Dots led 7 - 0 after 3 innings of play.

In the 4th inning again Sherman led off with a hit , then made three straight outs. For Poca in the 4th inning David Beaver got a hit to centerfield. Then Rusty Gibson and Roman Gibson both walked. nobody scored in the 4th inning and the score stayed 7 - 0 Poca.

In the 5th inning Sherman didn't do much. They hit to Alex Staats at shortstop. He promptly threw the runner out to junior 1st baseman Roman Gibson. The Seth runner walked . Then a line drive to Josh Smalley on the pitchers mound, who zipped it to Roman Gibson at 1st base for the 2nd out. Then Josh Smalley struck out the last batter to end the Sherman half of the inning still 7 - 0 Poca. The bottom of the 5th inning Donnie Staats led off with a walk , then Matt McClanhan had a sacrifice fly . Then Ian Humphrey showed his power and hit a Double driving in a run. Adam Snyder walked and Rusty Gibson won the game with his two run hit which made the score 10 - 0 With two men still on base.

Smalley had a great game. He scattered five hits and struck out nine Sherman batters in five innings of work. Smalley helped his cause at the plate with a powerful two run home run.

Manager P.E. McClanahan does a great job with the kids with help from his assistant coaches.

I would like to thank Richie Eads ( voice of The Dots ) and Bob Humphrey for their help with the stats and Mary Humphrey for her help.

                                                                  Runs    Hits     Errors  

Sherman Tide    0   0   0   0   0   -   0     5     5  

Poca Dots         3   3   1   0   3   -  10   12     0