Tigers stay focused by staying relaxed

Cannon has Pigeon Forge one win away from second straight state championship game chris@theheraldnewspapers.com Whether it is with a bat or with an off-speed pitch, the resilient Pigeon Forge Tigers keep forging their way toward the state tournament championship game this week at the BlueCross Spring Fling in Murfressboro. As of Thursday afternoon, the Tigers were waiting through a storm front that was sweeping through the mid-state area. Pigeon Forge was scheduled to face Covington once again Thursday evening at 5. The Tigers (25-7) defeated Covington Wednesday afternoon with a storm of first-inning hits that led to 3-0 lead after the first frame of the second round contest. Pigeon Forge later added runs in the second and fifth innings and withstood a sixth-inning Covington rally to secure a 5-2 win, pushing the Tigers so close to their second consecutive state title game they can almost smell it. “It was just a great effort by the boys coming out and being focused,” said Tigers’ head coach Larry Cannon. “Jumping out on a real good team in the first inning was big for us.” Cannon has managed to keep his team focused on the task at hand throughout the regular season and into this postseason. His ability to keep his squad so level-headed after the two state tournament wins this week will be a key factor in the team possibly winning the program’s first state championship. Cannon led Pigeon Forge to the title game a year ago and that experience has undoubtedly benefited the Tigers, helping to instill a ‘business as usual’ approach to each tournament game. Playing on such a big stage, it’s crucial for a high school club not to get too high or too low, the Pigeon Forge coach explained. “The key thing is I just try to keep them relaxed,” Cannon commented on his method of motivation. “Our attitude through the entire season has been to just go out relaxed and try to have fun. “I think (having played deep into the tournament last season) has helped some of these guys. Yeah, that experience has obviously helped some of these guys.” One of the guys it has obviously helped is the coach’s son, the team’s top pitcher Tyler Cannon. The Tigers had taken a 5-0 lead after five innings, but Covington (32-10) began to wear down Bradley Harveston, who replaced starter French Clark on the pitcher’s mound in the third inning. Harveston allowed Covington to get runners in scoring position during the sixth before giving up a two-run single that forced his coach to quickly look to the bullpen and call on Tyler Cannon. Tyler Cannon induced a fly out to centerfield to stop the Covington sixth-inning rally and then pitched the seventh to collect the save. “Covington is a scrappy, very talented team,” Larry Cannon said. “We feel fortunate to win, and right now we’re sitting in good shape, but we were sitting in good shape last year at this time too, so we’re just going to keep taking it one game at a time.” Covington bounced back from its 5-2 loss to the Tigers and took care of business later Wednesday with a 7-6 elimination-game win over Goodpasture to earn the Thursday rematch with Pigeon Forge. Should the Tigers win the Thursday rematch they would then meet either Anderson County or University School of Jackson in Friday’s championship tilt. Pigeon Forge came out swinging in Wednesday’s win over Covington. The Tigers collected five-first inning singles. Tyler Cannon, Harveston and Clark scored first inning runs for Pigeon Forge. Harveston plated Cannon in the second inning with an RBI double. Cannon had reached base on a leadoff double. Pigeon Forge went up 5-0 in the fifth inning when Dale Ferrell reached on a double before coming around to score on a Ben Bartley RBI single. The Tigers defeated Lexington by the exact same score (5-2) in the tournament’s opening round on Tuesday Like he did against Lexington, once again Larry Cannon used three different pitchers against Covington to keep the opposition off-balanced. Clark drew the start and made it through the second before handing the ball to Harveston who almost made it through the sixth but was replaced by Tyler Cannon, who collected the third out of the sixth and all three outs in the seventh for the save. Clark, meanwhile, is credited with the pitching win. With possibly two games on Thursday, Larry Cannon still had the option of starting ace Tyler Cannon in either game. Tyler Cannon has pitched just an inning and a third in the tournament. High school pitchers are allowed to pitch just 10 innings over a two-day span. Should the Tigers lose to Covington at 5 Thursday, the teams would meet again at 8 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament. Pigeon Forge needs just one win to secure its second championship-game berth in two years.