In a game with 24 hits, it was eighth grader Ty Ashley who worked the count full and drew a walk to decide this one—giving Owensboro a 7-6 walk-walk-off win over the Panthers to secure the No. 1 seed in the 9th District.
The Panthers got off to a hot start, getting a one-out single, one-out walk and two-out walk to load the bases in the top of the first. Sophomore Lucas Ward then singled to left to take a 1-0 lead, but junior Lake Wilson was then thrown out by eighth grader Ty Ashley the plate trying to grab one more to end the top half of the inning.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the second that Owensboro got its first scoring threat, as one-out singles from sophomore Brady Benjamin and sophomore Will Hume and a walk loaded the bases for freshman Elijah Hampton with two outs. The catcher would get his second hit of the day, this time doubling to clear the bases and give Owensboro a 3-1 lead going into the third.
Daviess County responded swiftly though, loading the bases with a leadoff single from Ward and a pair one-out singles by sophomore Brett Poole and junior Carter Nichols to lead off the top of the fourth. The following at-bet senior Decker Renfrow’s grounder to second was mishandled and the error plated two runs, tying things at 3-3.
That was all Daviess County would get though, as senior Connor Hallmark was able to get a fly out and a groundout to second to work out of the jam. His teammates picked him up the ensuing inning, as a one-out single and groundout quickly put Ty Ashley at second.
Then with two outs sophomore Trevor DeLacey doubled to center, scoring Ty to make it a 4-3 Owensboro lead. DeLacey was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple though, sending the game into the fifth.
The Panthers had an answer once again though, as senior Jackson Loucks hit a one-out triple in the top of the fifth and later scored on a wild pitch to knot things up at 4-4. The back-and-forth affair didn’t skip a beat in the bottom half of the inning either, as the Red Devils got three straight one-out singles to load the bases.
Wilson nearly got out of the jam by striking out the following batter, but a check swing from Benjamin turned into a bloop single to right that scored a pair and gave Owensboro a 6-4 lead. The Red Devils had a chance to add more with runners on the corners and two down, but Wilson was able to get a groundout to short to send the game to the sixth.
But Daviess County got a window of opportunity in the top of the sixth, as a pair of one-out errors by Owensboro and a walk loaded the bases. Senior Layton Huskisson came up clutch the following at-bat, hitting a double to left to tie the game at 6-6.
The Panthers were unable to take advantage of runners on the corners with one out though, as back-to-back strikeouts from sophomore Will Rickard kept things at 6-6 going into the bottom of the sixth. But Daviess County gave themselves a chance to reclaim the lead after a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, getting a leadoff single from senior Xander Brubaker and a two-out single by Renfrow to put runners on the corners with two down.
Rickard was able to bear down once again when the Red Devils needed it most however, striking out senior Cason Troutman with a breaking ball to send it to the bottom of the seventh. It was then Owensboro put the pressure on the Panthers, getting a one-out walk from sophomore Cayden Ray, a one-out single from senior Connor Hallmark and then Benjamin was walked intentionally to load the bases with two down.
But Ty Ashley proceeded to work the count full and draw a walk—giving Owensboro a 7-6 walk-off win over the Panthers to secure their spot atop the 9th District standings.
Head Coach Jacob Fiorella was thrilled with his team’s persistence on Friday, something that they’ve been preaching throughout the course of the season. And with the 9th District Tournament right around the corner, the Red Devils can gain valuable experience from a tough win.
“They had three walk-off games, Apollo’s had four walk-off games… that’s just the way the district goes,” Fiorella said. “Every game is anybody’s and it really comes down to grit. That’s what it comes down to. I think we’re all pretty equal.
There were multiple times where Daviess County could’ve opened things up and taken control of the game, but Owensboro never backed down and fought its way to the win.
“Our guys didn’t give up,” Fiorella said. “We had a couple of opportunities to kind of fold and they didn’t. We made three errors, two really costly ones there in the sixth and the seventh, but we battled and worked around it.”
Sophomore Will Rickard was one of those players that was tested on multiple occasions, picking up the win in 1 ⅔ innings of relief where he allowed no earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out four. Coming off of a rough outing, Fiorella was pleased to see the righty step up and rise to the challenge when his team needed it the most.
“We went to him and he did a good job,” Fiorella said. “He didn’t get everything he wanted and we just kept imploring him to battle and he did. He made enough pitches for us to make enough plays for us to keep the game where it was and try to win it on our end.”
Now sitting at 13-10 overall and 4-2 in district play to claim the top seed in the 9th District Tournament, the Red Devils will look to take the momentum of their five-game winning streak into a home matchup with Madisonville-North Hopkins at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 8.
Daviess County on the other hand falls to 13-11 and 2-4 in district play, making them the No. 4 seed to set up a first round matchup with the Red Devils. The Panthers would’ve forced a four-way tie in the district with a win, but Head Coach Austin Clay said they were unable to convert on some great opportunities to come out on top.
“Had chances where we could’ve taken some more bases and we ended up giving them some free bases and they’re a good team,” Clay said. “When you don’t take opportunities that are given to you against good teams, it makes it super hard to win.”
With the regular season nearing its end and the postseason knocking on the door, Clay wants his team to work on simplifying the game in order to help them maximize their potential.
“Just one thing we were talking about is this is the same game they’ve played since they were little kids,” Clay said. “We don’t need to make an effort to be somebody that we’re not. We just need to take care of things that we can control… Just little things that I think we’re missing a little bit.”
Daviess County will get its first chance to do so on Saturday,traveling to battle on the road against Bowling Green at 11 a.m.
