North Laurel one win away from title

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North Laurel’s Kelsey Patton slides safely under the tag of Tri-City catcher Taylor Johnson as home plate umpire Brad Larkey keeps a close eye on the play during North’s 15-3 win. Photo by Denis House

July 2, 2012

North Laurel one win away from title

All Stars roll over Tri-City, 15-3

By Denis House Sports Editor The Sentinel-Echo Mon Jul 02, 2012, 09:50 AM EDT

LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Heading into the bottom of the top of the fifth inning in Friday night’s winner’s bracket final, North Laurel held a slim 5-3 lead over Tri-City in the girls’ 11-12 year old All Star tournament at North Laurel Little League.

Then the North offense exploded, scoring 10 runs over the final two innings to roll, 15-3. North Laurel is just one win away from capturing the district title and earning a trip to the state tournament.

“I challenged them,” coach Shane Brewer said. “I told them if they want to win this game to go out and get it. They produced.”

Brewer said his team has some big key hits, but maybe none bigger than Kelsey Patton’s in the top of the fifth inning.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Patton laced a single to right to score two runs and put North Laurel up, 7-3. That hit not only kept the inning alive but also opened the flood gates, as North scored six to push its lead to 11-3.

“That hit opened everything up,” Brewer said.

North touched starting pitcher Destinee Jenkins for three runs in the top of the first, highlighted by an RBI triple off the bat of Madison Sechrest. Sechrest would score on a passed ball, and Olivia Miller, who made a great catch in center later in the game, scored Madison McDaniel with a ground out.

Tri-City got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning as Jenkins doubled with one out and scored on a single by Autumn Dunaway. North added two more runs in the top of the third to up its lead to 5-1. With one out, McDaniel beat out and infield single. Following the second out, Miller singled to left, and both runners came home on a triple by Makinlee Philpot.

Tri-City cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a two RBI double from Whitney Halcomb.

But that would be all the runs McDaniel would allow. Meanwhile, her team added 10 more runs to complete the rout.

“We were going to stay with McDaniel from start to finish,” Brewer said.

Now his team had two days rest before playing for the district title Sunday night. North would have to lose twice to be denied the title.

“All our pitching is good for Sunday,” Brewer said. “I think the three best teams (North, Pulaski and Tri-City) are still battling it out.”

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