Somerset — The Lake Cumberland 12 and under Cal Ripken All-Stars took the field Tuesday night at the ward Correll Sports Complex hoping to take the first step toward winning the 5th District Tournament and advancing to the State Tournament next week in Shelbyville. Their foes were from just down the road in Rockcastle County, and they had hopes of their own.
Rockcastle sent Tyler Harper to the mound to try and shut down the local stars. In the first inning he was great. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Harper retired the next two to sit Lake Cumberland down in order. The most impressive thing about it was that he retired the side without throwing a single pitch outside of the strike zone.
Gunnar Pitman countered on the mound for Lake Cumberland. Pitman surrendered only a walk in the first and struck out the cleanup hitter for the third out.
Harper was still throwing bulls eyes in the second, recording two more outs, still without throwing a ‘ball’. But when Austin Cornett drilled Lake Cumberland’s first hit of the game, it seemed to take Harper off his stride. The first pitch to the next hitter, Caleb Cox, was way inside for a wild pitch, allowing Cornett into scoring position. And score he did when Cox singled to open the scoring for the local stars.
In the second, Pitman found himself in trouble. Leading 1-0 he had allowed a single, walk, and wild pitch to give Rockcastle runners at second and third with just one out. But Pitman just threw it into another gear, striking out the next two hitters to escape the jam.
Lake Cumberland came out like gangbusters in the third. Charley Hall led off with a single and scored on a double by Colby Adkins. Then Chris Lynch singled, Gunnar Pitman had an RBI fielder’s choice, Will Hislope doubled in a run, followed by Austin Cornett who tripled and scored on an error on the play. Just like that, it was 6-0.
Pitman pulled a repeat in the third—this time it was second and third with no outs. Then he struck out two in a row and got out of it with a ground out.
Harper, who had looked so impressive to start for Rockcastle, seemed to be tiring and losing velocity on his fastball. But when lake Cumberland had him reeling the most, he came back and retired them in order in the fourth and fifth.
Rockcastle finally broke through against Pitman in the fourth, on an RBI single by Jake Mink. Chris Lynch came in for relief after the fourth.
Lake Cumberland finished off the scoring in the top of the sixth, and the catalysts were the three pinch hitters. With one out, Christian Strack came off the pines to lace a single up the middle, then steal second. Pinch hitter Matthew Floyd then hit a grounder that was thrown away at first to score Strack. Charley Hall drove in a run with his second single of the game, followed by the last member of the team to bat, Dalton Teal. What did Teal do? He ripped another base hit. He and Colby Adkins were on base when clean up hitter Gunnar Pitman came to the plate and …. well … cleaned up. He drilled a fastball that skimmed off the top of the left field fence for an explosive explanation mark. After Lynch retired them in the bottom of the inning, Lake Cumberland could celebrate the 12-1 win which launches them into the second round of the winners’ bracket, which will be played at the South Kentucky RECC field tonight at 7:45 pm.
L. C. 015 006 — 12 12 3
R.C. 000 100 — 1 4 3
LC — Pitman 4IP, 1ER, 1R, 3H, 6K, 3BB; Lynch 2IP, 0ER, 0R, 1H, 2K, 0BB. 2B—Adkins, Hislope. 3B—Cornett. HR—Pitman. SB—Strack. RBI—Pitman 4, Adkins 2, Hislope, Cornett, Cox, Hall
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Lake Cumberland 12 & under All-Star Austin Cornett slammed a triple and drove in a run in the local baseball team’s 12-1 win over Rockcastle County on Tuesday. Steve Cornelius Photo
Lake Cumberland All-Stars down Rockcastle 12-1
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