By MICHAEL CHILDERS, CJ Correspondent
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
The Southeastern All-Stars of Lexington came into Thursday’s night East Kentucky 12-Year Old Cal Ripken State Tournament as the prohibitive favorite to not only win their opening game, but also the whole tourney.
Don’t tell that to the Lake Cumberland All-Stars, who fought with every bit of their strength to almost beat one of the state’s top teams.
After falling behind 6-0 in the first inning, Lake Cumberland could have just put their heads down and gave up, but they didn’t. They roared all the way back to tie the game at eight, but lost by a final of 11-8 on Thursday night at the Ward Correll Sports Complex.
This game was action-packed with home runs, big hits, and double plays — there was even a Southeastern coach thrown out, but we’ll get to that in a minute. The six-inning contest went deep into the night, lasting two hours and twenty-six minutes. In fact, the first two innings took one hour and ten minutes.
After knotting the contest up at 8-8, it looked as if Lake Cumberland might pull off the upset and knock mighty Southeastern off their pedestal, but some clutch hits by Southeastern propelled them past Lake Cumberland in the end.
Southeastern went ahead 10-8 in the top of the fifth thanks three big hits - all pinch-hitters - Anthony Ethington, Jaren Shelby, and Parker Selin. A two-run Selin double to right field scored both Essington (single) and Shelby (double), putting Southeastern out front 10-8.
In the sixth, TJ Ross added an extra insurance run, as he went yard with a home run.
Lake Cumberland’s final chance to win came in the bottom of the sixth inning. A Devin Vaught single would be the only hit of the inning, which wasn’t enough for Lake Cumberland. Southeastern would win by a final of 11-8.
Early on, the All-Stars from Lexington were nothing short of impressive, scoring six runs on five hits in the opening inning. Lake Cumberland starter Logan Combs just didn’t have it Thursday night - he only lasted four batters. Trevor Howard then took over the pitching duties for the remainder of the contest. Jake Metzger sailed one over the right field fence for a two-run home run, plating Jaxon Blair, who had a lead-off double. After Blair’s two-run blast, TJ Ross and Ben Rider had back-to-back singles. Ross would score on an error while Rider would give Southeastern a 4-0 lead on a passed ball. After Hunter Wills was walked, Jack Carroll picked up an RBI single, giving his team a five-run lead. Southeastern went ahead 6-0 after scoring on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the first, Vaught came up to the plate with the bases loaded with Peyton Gover (error), Landon Powell (walk), and Howard (single) on each bag. A Vaught sacrifice fly scored Gover, then a two-run single from Logan Ramsey cut the Southeastern lead to three runs at 6-3.
Howard struggled a bit on the mound for Lake Cumberland in the second, walking one batter and hitting three batters. A controversial call ended in the inning, which left everyone in the ball park confused. As stated earlier, a Southeastern assistant coach was tossed by the umpire for arguing nonstop. After a long delay, the call was finally made with the inning ending with Southeastern leading 8-3.
Michael Flora, the Southeastern starter, was replaced after walking the first batter of the inning, Lincoln Powell. Combs was hit by a pitch and Gover singled, loading the bases. With one out, Howard picked up an RBI after grounding out. Vaught then launched a ball over the left field fence for a three-run home run, cutting the Southeastern lead to a mere run at 8-7.
Lake Cumberland tied the contest up at eight apiece in the fourth frame. The All-Stars of Lake Cumberland began the inning with three consecutive singles from La. Powell, Howard, and Vaught. La. Powell would score the eighth run of the night with an RBI single from Vaught.
Ethington picked up the victory for Southeastern while Shelby was credited with the save. Ethington gave up seven hits and struck out four batters in four innings of work.
For Lake Cumberland, Combs was saddled with the loss. Howard pitched five plus innings, striking out two, while walking four.
After struggling in the opening round game, Vaught was nothing short of sensational on Thursday night for Lake Cumberland. He went three-for-four at the dish with a home run, two singles, and drove in five runs.
Out of Southeastern’s ten total hits, six of them were for extra bases.
Southeastern was back in action last night against Montgomery County, while Lake Cumberland will return to the diamond today at the Ward Correll Sports Complex at 10 a.m. against the winner of last night’s Kenton County-Johnson County game.
SEL 6 2 0 0 2 1 - 11 10 3
LC 3 4 0 1 0 0 - 8 10 3
WP- Essington (SEL).
LP- Combs (LC).
SV- Shelby (SEL).
RBI- Metzger 2, Selin 2, Ross, Wills, Shelby (SEL). Vaught 5, Ramsey 2, Howard (LC).
2B- Blair, Coop, Selin (SEL).
HR- Metzger, Ross (SEL). Vaught (LC).
•••
LEXINGTON — The Lake Cumberland 11-year-old All-Stars had no problem in their first round match-up on Thursday at Veterans Park, as the local Cal Ripken squad demolished Montgomery County 21-1 in four innings of play.
The Lake Cumberland All-Stars combined for 20 hits, while holding their opponents to only a mere hit — thanks to the strong pitching arms of Kross Grundy, Hagan Elmore and Nathaniel Bell.
The entire Lake Cumberland All-Star team got into the hitting action, as they had eight players recording multiple hits for the game.
Brandon Pruitt led the way offensively for Lake Cumberland by hitting 3-for-4, driving in four runs and scoring three runs. Dakota Sturgill hit a perfect 3-for-3, drove in three runs and scored two runs. Also, Chris Blount collected three hits and drove in two runs. Hagan Elmore Kross Grundy, Nate Phillips, Trae Harmon, Nathaniel Bell and Chase Emerson, all had two hits apiece.
With the win, the Lake Cumberland All-Stars advanced to the winner’s bracket final to take on, host team, Lexington Southeastern today at 12:30 p.m.
