The Owensboro Southern 12U All-Stars continued a dominant run, using a 14-0 semifinal victory in four innings to knock Daviess County out of the District 1 Tournament on Wednesday at Country Heights Elementary School.
Owensboro now advances to Thursday’s 6 p.m. championship game against Bowling Green East — who won the tournament last year in the 11U division.
Three Southern pitchers — Grayson Smith, Will Rickard and Barrett Evans — combined to give up two hits while striking out 10 and walking a lone batter against DC. Meanwhile, the offense put up five quick runs in the first inning.
Evans hit a two-run homer in the second inning, and Owensboro tacked on seven more runs in the third frame.
“We did everything exactly the way we wanted,” said Owensboro manager Matt Evans. “We kept all our pitch counts down and got the outs we needed, and we scored the runs. It let us take all of our pitchers into tomorrow night.”
Lucas Ward led off with a single for Southern and scored the first run on a hit by Evans. Four more singles allowed four more runners to cross the plate for a big advantage early.
In the third, the first three batters reached base safely to set up a big rally. One run each was scored over the next seven plate appearances — a groundout, three walks, a sac fly and two singles.
Evans said the production throughout the lineup has been key all week.
“We’ve been swinging the bat really well up and down the lineup,” he said. “That’s been the biggest surprise. We’ve got a lot of RBIs and hits.”
Daviess County’s hits came from Sean Page and Will Hernandez, while Carter Crisp drew the walk.
Southern has not allowed a run through five games in the district tournament, but Evans knows they’ve got a tough test Thursday night.
“They’re going to hit the ball and score runs,” he said. “We’ve got to come back and do our thing and match them. It’s not going to be an easy game. We’ve had some battles with them over the years.”
