It took a couple of innings to get going, but once the Chuckey-Doak baseball team started hitting on Wednesday night they punished the ball with a series of powerful blasts that led to a 14-4 win over Hampton in the District 1-2A Tournament.
“We came out and hit the baseball tonight and that’s always a positive,” Chuckey-Doak coach Jacob Willett said. “Our pitcher went out and competed and we played solid defense. Anytime you do those things you give yourself a chance to win. I’m proud of the way the guys came out and swung the bat today.”
The Black Knights got 12 hits from eight different batters. Six of those hits went for extra bases while 10 players reached base, and nine players scored a run.
“It has been a little bit since we have played some baseball and we had to get our timing down,” Willett said. “But once we got our timing down we had a big third inning and busted it open. It’s encouraging to see everybody produce. There are a couple of guys that are coming along late in the year, and we starting to compete at the plate one through nine.”
Through the first two innings the Black Knights could not manage to get a runner past first base, and they found themselves in a 2-0 hole. That changed in a dramatic way in the third inning. Chuckey-Doak hammered four extra-base hits in the inning and scored 11 runs to take control of the game.
Ben Palazzo got things going by blasting a leadoff double into the right-center gap. He scored the Knights’ first run when Dom Atchison put down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away at first. Jake Hinkle followed by lining a double into left field that evened the score at 2-2.
After Kiptyn Ball walked to put runners on the corners he took off for second and baited the Bulldogs into a double steal. The result was a run scored by Hinkle while Ball ended up on third. Ball scored when Randall Sauceman sent a sacrifice fly to right field.
Shane Cook smoked a groundball through the left side for a two-run double. Palazzo knocked in two more runs by dropping a single over the shortstop. Sauceman completed the scoring in the 11-run frame by rocketing a bases-clearing triple into the left-center gap.
Hampton went down in order in the top of the fourth inning and Chuckey-Doak scored two more runs in the bottom of the frame.
Cook scored Lynkin Cutshaw when he sent a triple into the left field wall. Palazzo knocked Cook in with a sacrifice fly for a 13-2 lead.
Hampton scored two in the fifth with Chase Davenport bouncing a single through the left side before Jayden Kuhn put a double into left field. Kuhn crossed when Bryce Fagan got a pop up to land in right field.
Chuckey-Doak needed to send just two batters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth to end the game by run rule. Hinkle led off the side by reaching on an error and Cooper Seay ended the night by firing a pinch-hit double into left-center gap, easily scoring Hinkle from second.
Cook had the biggest day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, triple, three RBIs, and two runs scored. Sauceman went 2-for-2 with a triple and four RBIs. Palazzo was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBIs. Hinkle and Seay each had a double.
Kuhn led Hampton by going 3-for-3 with three doubles.
On the mound Hinkle threw all five innings for Chuckey-Doak while using just 52 pitches. He struck out two, walked none and allowed eight hits.
Chuckey-Doak moves on to the tournament’s semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m. It will play the winner of Hampton and South Greene, and will have to be defeated twice not to advance to Saturday’s championship game.
“We have to show up every day and be ready to compete at a high level. We’re at the time of the year that if you don’t show up for one game that could be all she wrote,” Willett said.
HAMPTON 6, SOUTH GREENE 5
In the first game at Chuckey-Doak on Wednesday the South Greene baseball team put the tying run on third in the bottom of the seventh, but the Rebels came up short in a 6-5 loss to Hampton in the first round of the District 1-2A Tournament.
South Greene outhit Hampton nine to four, but four errors led to two unearned runs, and those proved to be the difference.
Charlie Lane was 2-for-4 with a double, and Colby Brooks was 2-for-4 with a double for the Rebels.
Brooks threw seven innings with 12 strikeouts, two walks and four hits allowed.
South Greene will be back in action on Thursday at Chuckey-Doak, and will be taking on Hampton in an elimination game.
