JOHNSON CITY – North Greene met with University High for the fifth time this season and still couldn’t find a way to win on Sunday afternoon, suffering an 11-1 loss in the District 1-1A Championship in at TVA Credit Union Park in Johnson City.
“They are a top-notch ball club. One through nine can swing it pretty good. They’ve got six or seven pitchers over there and that’s what you’ve got to have to make a run,” Huskies coach Jamey Palmer said.
The No. 3 Junior Bucs kept their bats warm and produced 11 runs on nine hits in a shortened five inning game. They secured their 4th-straight championship with the win.
The Huskies started hot, but soon flamed out and couldn’t get it back going. They only mustered four hits off UH and gained three of those four in the first and fifth innings. Jake Duffy had the only multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run. He also started on the mound and pitched 1 1/3 innings with four hits, five earned runs, and five walks.
“We started out hot. We jumped on them early, got a walk or so there, got a runner to third and did a few little things to get him in. But after that they came in and they’re a good hitting team. You’ve got to make the plays and you can’t give them extra outs in the inning. I think they ended up putting up four and that kind of took the wind out of us a little bit, but I felt like we competed,” Palmer said.
Duffy delivered North Greene’s only run in the first inning. He singled and later stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Isaac Gaby grounded out, but gave Duffy the passage to score.
The 1-0 lead didn’t last long as University High quickly scored four in the bottom of the first. Aidan Halley singled in the second, but never got home.
UH then scored three in the second and led 7-1 after two. They scored four more in the fourth to extend their lead to ten runs. North Greene received a walk and back-to-back singles with two outs in the fifth, but ended the game on a fly out.
North Greene lost 11-1 in five after a run rule came into effect.
Even in defeat, the Huskies know their season is still alive after Saturday’s win over Unaka. They will participate in the Region 1-1A Tournament at the end of the week. The games will be held at Milligan University. The tournament will consist of both University and North Greene along with Cosby and Washburn. It will be North Greene’s third-straight trip to regions.
Palmer spoke about what needs to be done going into regionals, “We made some good plays and we’ve got to build off of that. I told our guys our baseball season is not over yet. If we can just find a way to do some little things right.”
Tyler Britton, Duffy, and Gaby were named to the All-Tournament Team. Duffy and Gaby were also named to the All-Conference team along with Christian Cogdill and Brady Weems.
Duffy went 2-for-3 with a run, Gaby went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Aidan Halley went 1-for-2.
