Postseason baseball: Henry Clay stuns LCA with four-run rally in top of seventh
Down to their final three outs, Henry Clay baseball Coach Jordan Tarrence had a simple explanation for how his team turned a 5-2 deficit into a stunning 6-5 win over host Lexington Christian in the 11th Region Tournament’s opening round on Monday.
“They didn’t quit.”
That perseverance put Henry Clay into Tuesday’s 11th Region Tournament semifinals, joining two other Lexington teams — Sayre and Lafayette — and Madison Central, all winners Monday night at their respective quarterfinals sites. The semis and Wednesday’s finals were all to be played at Great Crossing.
Facing a 5-2 hole in the top of the seventh inning at LCA, Henry Clay benefited from an error and a walk that put runners on first and second base with no outs for the top of the Blue Devils’ batting order.
Kasen Parks smashed a double to the gap in left-center bringing in Walden Cole and pinch-runner Konlin Brown to cut the LCA lead to 5-4.
“I was feeling comfortable. I knew I could do the job,” Parks said. “There were no outs, so I was feeling relaxed. I just knew I had to get something up the middle or in the gap and that’s exactly what I did. … It felt pretty good. I didn’t feel anything when I hit it.”
A perfect bunt for a single by Jayden Bailey put runners at first and third and set up the wild pitch that brought Parks in with the tying run to make it 5-5. There were still no outs. The go-ahead run stood on second base.
LCA reliever Blake Campbell came on for starter Elijah Hammond and got a strikeout and a pop out before Henry Clay’s Kai Aoki singled up the middle to bring home Bailey with the go-ahead run.
“That’s not quitting,” Parks said of how Henry Clay pulled off the victory. “You just keep going. Their student section, dugout, everybody was chirping us, but that didn’t stop us for one minute, though. We just kept going.”
While Parks and Aoki had the glitzy RBIs, Tarrence noted the entire rally began with a simple ground ball by Cole.
“As hitters you got to put the ball in play. You can’t strike out. You can’t pop up, You’ve got to put the ball in play, and if you hit a hard ground ball, you give yourself a chance,” Tarrence said.
Henry Clay’s Chardy Tierney relieved starter Cade Schneider in the seventh and got the save with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.
Schneider got the victory and though he gave up four runs in the first inning to the Eagles, he settled down the rest of the way, allowing only one more run.
“Every single inning I would tell him, ‘Put up a zero and give us a chance. Put up a zero and give us a chance.’ And he did.” Tarrence said. “He went out there and kept us in the game.”
LCA finished the season 16-13-1 as 43rd District champions. Matthew Maggard led the Eagles by going 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Will Nichols also knocked in two runs on a hit. Parker Chaney had a hit, a run and an RBI.
Henry Clay (18-15), the 42nd District runner-up, was to face 44th District champion Madison Central (26-7) in the 6 p.m. game of Tuesday’s semifinals doubleheader at Great Crossing. The Indians topped the Blue Devils 7-2 in the regular season on May 4.
Monday’s other quarterfinals
Lafayette 3, Great Crossing 0: Ben Prather allowed only two hits, walked four and struck out eight which helped Mason Pittman’s two-run homer in the top of the fourth inning stand as the only runs needed as the Generals (21-12) defeated the 41st District champion Warhawks (17-12) on their home field.
Owen Jenkins doubled ahead of Pittman in the fourth inning. The Lafayette senior hit his home run over the right-field fence on a 3-2 count with one out.
Prather singled with two outs in the top of the fifth inning and later scored on a Jenkins liner to center field to set the final margin.
Lafayette was to face Sayre in the semifinals. They have not met this season.
Sayre 10, Berea 0: Graham Johnson hit a two-run single in the first, Addison Stockham hit a two-run triple in the second and Brock Coffman hit a two-run triple in the third while three Spartans pitchers no-hit Berea in the mercy-rule five-inning game.
Sayre (19-9), 42nd District champs, started Owen Murphy and relieved him in the third inning with Kentucky commit Raymond Saatman and Blake Butler. Both Murphy and Saatman kept their pitch count at 39 and would be available for Sayre if they advanced to Wednesday’s finals. Butler recorded that final out of the game. Saatman and Charlie Slabaugh each scored two runs.
Berea (9-14) finished the season as 44th District runner-up.
Madison Central 8, Franklin County 4: Hayden Robbins went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI while Matt Johns had two hits, two runs and two RBI as the 44th District champion Indians (26-7) held off a late rally by the Flyers (14-20).
Madison Central scored twice in the first and the second innings and tacked on four more for an 8-0 lead after three, but the Flyers scrapped back into the game with the help of eight walks by Indians pitching. Madison Central used five different pitchers in the game.
Carson Hockensmith led Franklin County with a hit, an RBI and two runs scored.
Monday’s district softball results
Scott County 7, Henry Clay 4: The host Cardinals (19-11) broke a close game open with six runs in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by Delaney Vaughn’s two-run double and Karsyn Preston’s two-run home run in the semifinals of the 42nd District softball tournament on Monday.
Scott County’s Ada Little threw a whopping 159 pitches in the win, allowing four runs on five hits. The Cardinals got offensive help from Henry Clay’s five errors. The third inning began with back-to-back Devils’ errors. Preston led the Cards with two hits, three RBI and a run scored.
Henry Clay jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Ella Smith and Kyndal Brewster singled around a walk to Norah Henry. Brewster and Nora Dunn had RBI hits in the inning. Haley McGuire and Anna Webb also had RBI for the Blue Devils (14-20).
Scott County advances to Wednesday’s finals where it will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between Frederick Douglass and Bryan Station.
Paul Laurence Dunbar 7, Lexington Christian 6: The Bulldogs (5-18) rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning sparked by a leadoff single by Samantha Dixon, a double by Tatum Golden and consecutive bases-loaded walks that pushed Dunbar out front in their opening-round game of the 43rd District softball tournament at Lexington Catholic on Monday.
Dunbar’s Elise White had a two-run double in the bottom of the first for the Bulldogs’ first lead. LCA (9-14) was led by Alexis Furlong’s two hits and four runs scored.
Dunbar was to face top-seeded Lexington Catholic in Tuesday’s late semifinal at 7:30 p.m.
