‘People got their money’s worth.’ Extra-inning heroics make Trinity baseball the champ

Trinity and Pleasure Ridge Park’s showdown Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park, objectively, would have been the greatest state title bout played between two Louisville schools. That’s because it was the first.

That they shared in one of the event’s finest battles, period, was a gift from the baseball gods.

Trinity persevered 2-1 after nine innings to cap the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Baseball State Tournament and affirm its ranking as the state’s No. 1 team through most of the season. The Shamrocks finished 38-3 and won their second state title (the other coming in 2021).

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Caleb Ricks, the Shamrocks’ nine-hole hitter, got a single past PRP’s pitcher. It scurried past the second baseman and into mid-center, allowing more than enough time for teammate Grayson Willoughby to reach home plate from second.

“I don’t know if words can describe it,” Ricks said of his game-winning RBI.

Trinity just an inning earlier looked like it would leave Lexington the loser. After seven scoreless innings, Grayson Roll in the top of the eighth got the go-ahead run across for PRP (29-7) on a one-out single into right. That prompted a change on the mound for Trinity; Colin Sander relieved Willoughby, who moved to third.

Sander initially had a rough go. A fielder’s choice erased Roll but left runners on the corners, then Sanders walked PRP standout Joey Dudeck to load the bases. A flyout to first left three Panthers aboard.

Roll needed just five pitches to retire the first two Trinity batters in the bottom of the eighth. He had junior Nolan Hosking on a 2-1 count when he delivered a game-changing curveball. Hosking smashed it over the left-field fence for a solo shot.

It was Hosking’s eighth homer of the season and his only hit Saturday.

“I wasn’t having a good day to start the day, kind of popping everything up, not swinging at good pitches,” said Hosking, who’s committed to Louisville.. “My main thing was, ‘Just hit a ball hard. Find a pitch you can swing hard at.’ … I swung hard and the ball did what it needed to do.”

Zach Floyd, who made several big catches in center field to keep the Panthers at bay, popped up following Hosking’s blast. Sander settled in against the top of PRP’s order in the ninth and paved a way for the walk-off.

Willoughby led off the inning with a single and soon after stole second. It was just his fourth stolen base all year; he’d reached on a single in the second inning and considered stealing then. He felt better about it after watching Roll all game.

“I got a good feel for what it looks like when his leg goes, so when I saw it the second time I was able to get about half a step,” said Willoughby, a Kentucky commit. “I guess it caught the catcher off guard or something like that, ‘cause I’m not that fast.”

Harper Haywood, the other half of Trinity’s battery, hit a one-out single but PRP was able to hold Willoughby at second. A flyout followed and brought Ricks, a senior who’s headed to Notre Dame, to the plate for his eventual heroics.

“His baseball career at Trinity can be summed up in two words: toughness and perseverance,” Shamrocks head coach Rick Arnold said. “That’s what Caleb did and is. He’s had some ups and downs, and he bought into the things we were doing and his family and support staff got behind him, and the last month of the season he was a new offensive player, and he got to celebrate the walk-off hit in a state championship game. … Just hitting a hard ground ball, that’s what it takes in games like this.”

Roll, who threw for the win in last year’s state finals, again pitched a complete game for PRP, which fell short of becoming the first repeat baseball champion since Harrison County (1997-1998). Panthers head coach Brad Burns lauded the senior’s performance while reflecting on the season and a thrilling baseball game that, unfortunately, one team had to lose.

“People got their money’s worth, I guess,” Burns said. “I knew our kids would battle. That’s who they are.”

The Shamrocks are well stocked to make their own run at a repeat in 2026. Ricks and Sander (Brescia University) graduate along with starting second baseman Jackson Supsky (Wabash Valley College), but the bulk of their everyday lineup should be back.

“It’s gonna be tough, but we’ve got young guys that’ll step up,” Arnold said. “We’ll get back to work.”

• It was just the sixth time that the KHSAA baseball championship game, contested since 1940, went into extra innings, and the first time since 2013 (PRP defeated Mercer County 3-2). PRP was also part of, and lost, the last game that went to nine innings; Lexington Catholic needed a couple more to defeat the Panthers 4-2, in 1999.

• Only one state championship game has needed more than nine innings to be decided. Ashland beat Southern 1-0 in 10 frames for the 1968 title.

• Sander, who earned the win, wasn’t the only member of his family to win a state title on Saturday. Grace Sander, Colin’s younger sister, drove in two runs for Assumption in its 4-2 win over Henderson County in the KHSAA softball championship.

• The official attendance, 1,760, was the lowest reported for a state baseball final since 2000, when 1,620 people watched Henderson County defeat Ballard 1-0.

Gary Ball honored

Gary Ball, a longtime sports broadcaster in central Kentucky, was presented with a Bob White/Mike Fields Media Service Award before the start of the championship game.

Ball has worked around high school sports for more than three decades. For the last 23 years he’s served as the host and producer of “The Scholastic Ball Report” on WKYT. He currently is an on-air talent for PrepSpin and khsaa.tv.

The Bob White/Mike Fields Media Service Award, named after two longtime newspaper reporters, is given to individuals who throughout their career highlighted and promoted interscholastic athletics. Ball became the third recipient of the award, joining Ivan Rice and Rick Shaw.