Henry Clay plays lights out against Sayre to claim 42nd District baseball title
The 42nd District Tournament baseball championship game somehow avoided the worst of Wednesday night’s rain after being moved from Sayre’s Chase Comley Field to Legends Field to take advantage of its artificial turf surface.
But the defending district and region champion Spartans, ranked in PrepBaseballReport.com’s top 10 all year and at No. 6 ahead of the postseason, couldn’t get its offense going against No. 23 Henry Clay, who has called the independent league ballpark its home this year as its new school is built on top of its former grounds.
The Blue Devils held a 2-0 lead over top-seeded Sayre going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
It could be said Henry Clay starter J.T. Ritchie pitched ‘lights out’ against Sayre, allowing just two hits over six innings.
But then the lights really went out.
With the heart of Sayre’s batting order due up, the ballpark’s lights flickered for a moment before suddenly going dark. An electrical outage hit the entire venue and the shopping center next door.
Ritchie had to think about how to get the final three outs for 50 minutes before the lights kicked back on. He retook the mound in a light rain.
“It was crazy, you know. Nothing like that usually happens,” Ritchie said. “I had to stay loose. Everybody’s trying to help me stay loose, stretch me out. Just trying to stay loose and have fun.”
Banks Heinrich led off with a sharp single to center. An error allowed Tripp Winton on base on his short fly to center, but Heinrich was forced out at second base on the play. Then Joaquin Acevedo singled and Will Johnson walked to load the bases.
Henry Clay coach Jordan Tarrence walked to the mound to talk with Ritchie and his infield.
“We were fine. Really, I just wanted them to calm down. I knew he had it,” Tarrence said of Ritchie. “He pitched the best game he’s pitched all season, and it was his game, no matter what.”
Henry Clay’s Blake Miniard snagged Camden Stout’s line drive to him at first and sprinted to first for a double play to win the game and claim the Blue Devils’ second district title in three years. Players on the field and the dugout swarmed Ritchie and then chased him into left field as he playfully tried to avoid being caught in a dogpile.
No. 4 Lexington Catholic has a turf field, too, and hosted its 43rd District final as scheduled. The Knights beat Lafayette 6-2.
Henry Clay took its 2-0 lead in the third inning after senior third baseman Jaxon Vires led it off with the first home run of his career.
“It was big,’ Vires said. “District championship. Tie game. It just changed the whole momentum of the game and made us, the whole team, believe that we can win this game.”
A double by Garrett O’Donnell, a single by Ritchie and an intentional walk to Alex Elmadolar loaded the bases with one out for Miniard, who drove a sacrifice fly to center field to cap the scoring.
“It seemed like one run in this game could be a lot, so I wasn’t trying to do anything special,” Miniard said. “Just trying to get the ball out in the air, get it deep, so we could at least get one run.
Henry Clay had been swept by Sayre in the regular season thanks in large part to five errors in an 8-7 loss on April 21 and three errors in a 10-6 loss the next day.
The Blue Devils weren’t without mistakes this week in their 4-0 win over No. 25 Scott County in Tuesday’s semis or in the championship game, but starters Turner Sparks and Ritchie each pitched complete game shutouts.
“Thirty-eight games in, our pitching staff is doing well and doing what we expect,” Tarrence said. “We’ve had three straight shutouts. And that’s on the pitching, but it’s also on the defense. … The pitchers have to trust that ‘If I compete in the zone, they’re going to make plays behind me.’ You’ve got to give them credit for that.”
Sparks struck out 14 Cardinals, scattering six hits and a walk.
“I felt great tonight. It’s really emotional,” Sparks said Tuesday. “I love this team. I don’t want to let it go, so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got all the time.”
Both Henry Clay (28-10) and Sayre (23-9) advance to next week’s 11th Region Tournament which begins with four first round games on Monday at Legends Field.
The regional draw will be held there at 3 p.m. Friday with the champions of the 41st, 42nd, 43rd and 44th districts pitted against one of the runners-up, excluding their own.
The semifinals will be held Tuesday at Berea College. The championship game will be back at Legends Field on Wednesday.
Lexington Catholic claims fourth straight district title
Lexington Catholic overcame a couple of errors and took advantage of a big one by Lafayette in its 6-2 victory to claim the No. 4 Knights’ fourth straight 43rd District championship as tournament host.
Trailing 1-0 with two on in the bottom of the second inning via a hit and an error, Eli Gann delivered a bunt toward second that Lafayette pitcher Jackson Cox fielded cleanly. However, Cox’s throw to first sailed by the rotating second baseman and caromed into right field, allowing Griffin Lane and William Weber to score for a 2-1 lead. Two outs later, Baird Woodall brought home Gann with a single to right field to put LexCath up 3-0.
Lafayette (15-16) clawed a run back in the top of the fifth as Harrison Stephens’ RBI single made LexCath starter Wyatt Hayslett pay for a one-out walk. An error in the top of the first inning allowed Caden Herron to score the Generals’ first run.
But the Knights (28-8) broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth with Weber and Lane striking again, this time with a leadoff walk and steal by the former and an RBI single by the latter. Beckett Brittingham followed with an RBI double. Jack White’s single put Brittingham’s pinch runner Leo Gaunce in position to score on a passed ball moments later to set the final margin.
Hayslett allowed one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks in seven innings for the win. Cox lasted five innings for Lafayette, allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out six.
Lexington Catholic, the district’s top seed, advanced to the final with an 8-0 win over four-seed Tates Creek in Tuesday’s semis, highlighted by a Woodall’s four-RBI night that included a two-run double in the second inning. Eamon Hughes pitched a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts. Tates Creek edged Paul Laurence Dunbar 4-3 in Monday’s first round.
Lafayette split its regular season series with Lexington Christian and stunned the second-seeded Eagles on Tuesday with a seven-run fifth inning on the way to a 12-7 win to keep its season alive. Stephens had three hits, three RBI and two runs scored from the ninth spot in the batting order to lead the Generals.
