Finding themselves in a pitcher’s duel after a rambunctious first inning, it was Daviess County who gained some offensive momentum and grabbed a 9-3 district win over the Red Devils on Tuesday.
Owensboro looked to take control of the game early, quickly scoring with a two-run single from eighth grader Elijah Hampton. The Red Devils would leave some runners on base, but got a sac fly from freshman Will Hume to take a 3-0 lead.
The Panthers weren’t phased, as a one-put double and error led to a three-run shot from junior Layton Huskisson that quickly knotted things up. Two batters later junior Jackson Loucks gave Daviess County its first lead of the night, doubling to make it a 4-3 game going into the second.
“When I came out of the dugout for that inning versus when I came back in you could feel everybody kind of relaxed,” Head Coach Austin Clay said. “Then they just played the game. That was big.”
Both pitchers bounced back from the rough first inning, as Freshman Cayden Ray held Daviess County to just four runs until halfway through the game. His day came to the end in the third inning having kept the Red Devils right in it at 4-3.
“He battled and got us into the fourth, which is what we wanted,” Fiorella said. “Going into the fifth inning you’re looking at a 5-3 game and they ran a standard first and third and we kind of panicked a little bit. Which is just a lack of maturity. Those are things that we’ve gotta coach through to get where we want to be.”
This trickery on the basepaths turned into momentum for the Panthers, as they kept their foot on the gas and extended their lead to 8-3 following a three-run bottom of the fifth. Some defensive miscues were key in this outburst for Daviess County and Fiorella said that things like this are things the young Red Devils have to learn from.
“I think our lack of energy gave them a little bit of life to say that ‘if we push a little bit, we can put them out of this’”, Fiorella said. “That’s what I think happened in the fifth and the sixth. We dropped a fly ball, we misread a fly ball and then things just kind of spun out of control. That’s going to happen with a young team. My job is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Panthers kept Owensboro’s bats silent throughout thanks to Wilson refocusing on the mound, throwing five scoreless innings after first. He went on to strike out 12 over six innings, while allowing seven hits.
Junior Ethan Ahart got the nod for Daviess County in the seventh, shutting down the Red Devils once again to secure the 9-3 district win.
“I thought we did a good job,” Clay said. “The story for us so far in the year has been throwing strikes on the mound. Lake has probably been our most consistent guy doing that. I thought he did a good job of that tonight. He was in the zone a lot and did a great job tonight.”
Following Daviess County’s loss to Owensboro Catholic earlier this season, Clay mentioned that they needed to limit free bases defensively. They were able to do so today and Clay said that it will be a big key in determining how their season progresses.
“It always depends with us,” Clay said. “It always starts on the mound. Lake has done a great job his last couple outings of attacking the strike zone and Ahart did a good job when he came in today. When we do that, we’ve got a really good chance to play with just about anybody.”
With the win the Panthers winning streak sits at four games and they improve to 1-1 in district play. They sit at 10-4 overall and will return to action with another district matchup against Apollo at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Red Devils fall to 7-7 overall and are 0-1 in district play. While the result isn’t what Owensboro wanted, Fiorella said that as a young team they are taking the bumps and bruises and have to continue growing from them to be successful.
“You have to stay positive, but you’ve gotta be honest with them,” Fiorella said. “That’s where I’ve been really proud so far. We’re still in the first third of the season, but I’ve been really proud that they’re taking the honesty. They’re not taking it personal and they’re trying to use it to get better, which is really important.”
