Area Champs

North Green rolls past Clay Co., 18-1

By Tim Branstetter

CORBIN—Weston Griebel took the mound on Tuesday night and led the North Laurel Green Minor League All-Stars to an 18-1 victory over Clay County for the area title and a chance to play in the district tournament.

The smooth throwing southpaw struck out eight batters and only gave up two hits during five innings.

“Weston pitched wonderful,” said North Laurel coach James Brooks. “He’s our leader and we saved him for tonight. He topped off a great weekend with a great performance.”

The North squad put up big numbers in the third and sixth innings, but it was a wild pitch following back to back base hits by Shane Caudill and Matthew Brooks that gave Green a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Cole McWhorter scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a fielders choice to give his team a 2-0 advantage.

Brian Gray took one for the team in the top of the fourth inning and turned getting hit by a pitch into a run as he scored on a pass ball for the 3-0 lead. Brooks stepped up and hit an RBI for the 4-0 advantage. An RBI single by McWhorter and an RBI by Tyler Conway gave Green a 6-0 lead. McWhorter scored on a wild pitch and Jack Capobianco hit an RBI single for the 8-0 advantage.

“This group is hard to get out. They all expect to get a hit and they do a good job of it,” Brooks said. “I am real proud of them.”

Conway doubled to start the fifth inning and scored on an RBI by Brett Gaynor for the 9-0 North Laurel lead.

North could not push across enough wins to end the game with a ten-run rule, but made up for it with nine runs in the sixth inning. Caudill singled and Brooks was hit by a pitch, but they both scored on a wild pitch and North took a 11-0 lead. McWhorter doubled and Gaynor hit a two run single for the 13-0 advantage.

Two more runs scored on a wild pitch and Brooks smacked a two run single for the 17-0 North lead. The Green teams last run scored on a walk by Dalton Smith for the 18-0 lead. Clay County pushed a run across in the sixth inning on a wild pitch.

South London Red 14, Corbin 4

South London Red put away Corbin with a 10-run ruled 14-4 performance in their opponents own backyard.

Blake Burns started on the mound and was replaced by Zack Feltner in the third inning. Jay Jay Ramey came in during the fourth inning and closed it out.

“Burns did a real good job tonight,” South London coach Jason Ramey said. “We were able to save our pitching again tonight so that was a good thing, too.”

South got going in the second inning and put up seven runs on four hits. Feltner walked to score Conner Bain and Nate Steely scored two runs on a single for the 3-0 advantage. Ramey hit an RBI single and Bain hit a two run single for the 6-0 South lead. Mason Dozier walked to push the South advantage to 7-0.

“We had a bunch of kids that weren’t hitting start hitting tonight,” Ramey said. That was good to see”

South continued to hit the ball in the third inning as they put up five more runs on four hits. Ryan Anders hit an RBI single for the 8-0 lead, while Ramey and Jonathan Gambrel followed with singles. Bain hit an RBI single and two more runs scored on pass balls for the 11-0 advantage. Dozier added an RBI for the 12-0 lead after three innings.

Corbin would not go away and battled back to extend the game with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. South committed a few errors in the fourth inning and Corbin took advantage.

“It got a little goofy,” Ramey said. “They lost a little focus. Errors are contagious and they got a little crazy.”

South took care of business in the bottom of the fourth inning as Mathew Woods walked and Anders hit an RBI single for the 13-4 lead. Nate Steely ended the game with an RBI and the 14-4 score.

South Red faced Clay Co. Thursday night, with the winner advancing to the district tournament in Harlan.

Corbin 17, South London White 2

South London White lost a tough 17-2 game to Corbin on Tuesday night.

South scored their only two runs on two hits in the fourth inning. Daniel Poston singled, while Logan Martin and Dawson Arnold walked to load the bases with two outs. Mathew Fields smacked a two run single to close the gap at 5-2.

Tim Branstetter can be reached at tbranstetter@sentinel-echo.com

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