Apollo v Ohio County
A pivotal bottom of the fourth proved to be the deciding factor in a hard fought game in which Apollo fell to Ohio County 11-7.
Tyler Payne and Ashton Farris were dealing early, trusting their defenses en route to a scoreless first three innings.
Apollo broke through in top of the fourth, with back-to-back singles and a double steal getting a rally going.
Nolan Millay singled to right field, clearing the bases and taking a 2-0 lead.
Apollo seemed to have all momentum, but an interesting call in the bottom of the fourth lit a fire under Ohio County.
Farris sent a ball to deep center clearing the yellow line on the wall and the umpire in short center signaled for a home run. But everyone kept playing, causing screaming and confusion from both sides.
Rather than rewarding Farris with a home run or Apollo with an out after getting him in a rundown, Farris was given a leadoff double. Shortly after the floodgates opened.
Jaylen Walker bunted for a single the following at-bat and then a questionable fielding decision to try and get the runner at the plate led to one crossing the plate.
Trailing 2-1, Brandon Davis followed the bunt single up with an RBI single of his own to make it 2-2.
A hit by pitch and two walks later, Ohio County had its first lead of the day at 3-2 with no outs and the bases loaded.
A passed ball during the next at-bat made it 4-2 and then Matthew Smith singled with the Apollo infield in to make it 5-2.
Through stolen bases and walks a sixth run crossed the plate. Farris returned to the plate for the second time in the inning, singling to left to make it 8-2.
The second bunt single in the inning from Walker followed, leading to a sac fly the next at-bat to cap off a nine-run inning and give Ohio County a commanding lead.
Ohio County tagged on two more in the bottom of the fifth, making it an 11-2 lead for Farris and company.
Apollo went on to try and cause some chaos of their own, scoring two in the top of the sixth. In the top of the seventh they kept things going with a three-run shot from Dan St. Claire to left to make it 11-7 with two outs.
But that would be all she wrote for Apollo, as Ohio County walked away with an 11-7 win and a trip to the second round of the Third Region baseball tournament.
Head Coach Mason Head gave credit where it was due, saying that Ohio County hit well and got a complete performance on the mound and defensively as well.
“You have to tip your hat to Ohio County,” Head said. “They took advantage of the opportunities that we gave them and they hit the ball well when they had to.”
While Farris might’ve given up seven runs on the night, he was in command of the game all throughout while also helping himself plenty at the plate.
“We’ve seen Farris twice and we’re 0-2 against him,” Head said. “He’s a pretty good high school pitcher. He did a great job keeping us off-balance and getting us to fly out… I really can’t say enough about the job that Farris did. He pitched his heart out.”
Apollo closes out the season with an overall record of 23-10.
Trinity vs. Meade County
Trinity fought hard, but fell in their first round game against Meade County 11-7 thanks to stellar play on both sides of the diamond.
It was the Green Wave who got on the board first, with Trevor Goodwin helping himself at the plate with an absolute moonshot to center to take an early 1-0 lead.
Meade County tagged on another run in the bottom of the third via the long ball, this time from leadoff hitter Dylan Abell.
Outside of the two long balls, at the end of three we had a pitchers duel between Landon Huff and Goodwin, with the Green Wave out in front 2-0.
A dropped third strike allowed a run to cross in the bottom of the fourth for Meade County, followed by an RBI single from Dalton Wiles to make it a 4-0 game.
Meade County tagged on one more in the fifth, but that would be more than enough to give them the 5-0 first round win over Trinity.
Head Coach Jeff Wimsatt said he thought the Raiders competed well, but just fell short of a couple runs that could’ve swung momentum.
“We came out tonight with Landon on the mound [and] I think we can compete with anybody when Landon’s on the mound,” Wimsatt said. “We just missed a couple of timely hits right there and [then] their power. That’s a big strong team.”
The Raiders started to make him work harder for outs late, but Goodwin was in charge all night on the mound, finishing with seven strikeouts while only allowing four hits in the shutout.
“Just threw strikes,” Wimsatt said. “We put the ball in play a lot, but the second baseman was a vacuum cleaner over there. He caught everything it seemed like we hit at him. We tried him out a bunch, but yeah, he was just throwing strikes and we couldn’t get it to fall in a gap somewhere.”
As a team with five eighth graders and only two upperclassmen, Wimsatt is proud of the way his team fought. With a young team showing so much potential, he is excited to get to work and see what next season holds in store for them.
“To just build from where we’re at,” Wimsatt said. “We all got to a certain spot… From the time in March when we started and played our first game April 5, so it’s like [we went] from practice straight into a game. So we’re ready to go for next year and get started early.”
